#millenniumdevelopmentgoals

I'm honored to be the first student to post on behalf of the Feminist Advocacy in the UN course at Rutgers University. Thanks to the guidance of the professional staff at the cwgl, this tumblr will act as a platform where we can display our understanding of feminist theory and praxis though readings, discussions and concrete experiences at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).

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"Class Trip to the UN"

 By: Mariel Quintana

Why did you choose this course? What do you know about human rights? Do you know about the United Nation’s Millenium Development Goals and how it’s progress is being incorporated in the post-2015 development agenda?

These were questions commonly posed to our class throughout the day as we went from building to building to attend discussions about feminist advocacy in the UN. In total, we attended discussions with 4 organizations: UN Women, UN Non-Governmental Liason Service, Urban Justice Center, and Third World Network.

The in-depth conversations held among us were impressive. I was reminded of how, after much advocacy on multiple levels, women’s rights as human rights have finally become an issue taken seriously. Through class discussions and our class trip, we learned that on the forefront of women’s rights advancement are passionate individuals and hard-working grassroots organizations. Many activists’ motions are driven by the possibility to extend awareness of women’s issues by the passing of international documents agreed upon by the UN. While signed agreements such as the Programme of Action are useful to advance international dialogue, it is the work of the “little people” that make the work and decisions of employees of the UN reach closer to closing the gender inequality gap.

On December 17, 2013 a U.N. delegation concluded its three-day visit to Eritrea, assessing development advances and reviewing, with government partners, national development priorities for the next three years. 

Yesterday, on May 27th, 2012, I performed at the Millennium Development Goals event at Museon in The Hague. I was so impressed by the turn out, considering it was a hot summer sunday and people could have chosen to go to the beach or sit outside with a cool drink. Instead, many youngsters who are socially involved decided to gain knowledge and become inspired by the Millennium Development Goals event at Museon. Events like this always keep me focused and remind me to think about what I can do to give back.

What I particularly loved about this event, besides that fact that the money raised during the event was going to charity, was that the Millennium Development Goals set a very clear purpose for 2015. In fact, in case you're not familiar with these goals, let me share them with you:

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

2. Achieve universal primary education

3. Promote gender equality and empower women

4. Reduce child mortality

5. Improve maternal health

6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

7. Ensure environmental sustainability

8. Develop a global partnership for development

The event focused on elaborating on these goals by showing a photo exposition by the talented photographer Ashvin Ghisyawan, who traveled to India to take photos and bring the experience back to the Netherlands. Besides short interviews with volunteers who committed themselves to contributing to the Millennium Development Goals, several artists performed, including Dansschool Pretima Ke Dewashrie and myself.

By combining arts with knowledge it becomes a pleasure to learn and to contribute. If you're inspired, please take the time to figure out how you can and want to help. I truly believe individual powers can make a difference, you just have to organize and join forces!