Ecumenical Office to the United Nations (EOUN)

Housed at the Church Center for the United Nations, the EOUN is the World Council of Churches’ focal point for advocacy initiatives at the United Nations headquarters in New York City.

Together with ACT Alliance, through the EOUN the WCC plays a key role in convening and facilitating advocacy at different levels and building joint ecumenical strategies on priority issues.

The EOUN is a key instrument, helping to create a platform for the most marginalized among us, particularly those from the Global South, to bear witness to their experiences and truth in order to influence policy and decision making at the UN in New York, among member states, and within other intergovernmental and multilateral institutions.

By engaging in continuous dialogue and programmatic cooperation with such agencies as the United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on Religion and Sustainable Development, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and UN Women, we aim to strengthen and enhance UN discourse and practice on issues of peace and security, sustainable development and human rights. Through these dynamic partnerships, the EOUN serves to echo the call to action of the ecumenical fellowship, promoting peace building, reconciliation, human rights, peaceful resistance to violence, and sustainable development.

EOUN exists to amplify the prophetic voice and values of the ecumenical movement within the various multi-lateral settings of the United Nations (UN), and to articulate that voice in relation to the shared principles of the UN charter and international law. We aim to influence policy and decision making at the UN in New York, among member states, and within other intergovernmental and multilateral institutions.

It is our hope that through ecumenical collaboration and in the ecumenical spirit we can expand the advocacy capacity of our member churches and agencies and link to key advocacy moments when the voices of the ecumenical movement can affect the global discourse on the most critical issues of justice and peace in our world today.

Key aspects of the EOUN’s advocacy strategy are to encourage and expand the capacity of church leaders and community representatives to engage in national-level advocacy as well as to have access to decision makers in the UN. Through cooperative relationships with UN member states, the EUNO ensures open channels of communication. We also work to identify strategic synergies within the ecumenical movement to link actors and facilitate collective advocacy.

The EOUN ensures that the WCC is actively represented and highly influential on its priority activities: 

1. Peace and security

2. Sustainable development and monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

3. Religion, violence, and extremism

4. Gender justice

5. Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Context 

The multilateral system is navigating one of its most difficult periods since its founding. After decades of globalization and integration, the world faces accelerating fragmentation, resurgent populist nationalism, and a return of protectionism and coercive geopolitics. These shifts have shaken not only the operational capacity of international institutions but also their normative foundations, especially the legal and policy frameworks designed to protect those most at risk. As many states shift resources from official development assistance (ODA) and multilateral engagement toward (re)arming—including sharp increases in global military expenditure—humanitarian contributions remain a small fraction of such outlays even as needs grow. 

The consequences for development and human security are severe: declining ODA and widening resource gaps jeopardize delivery across peace, human rights, and sustainable development. These pressures are compounded by a UN liquidity crisis triggered by delayed or withheld assessed contributions, resulting in hiring freezes, program cuts, and borrowing from reserves. Proposals in late 2025 to shrink the 2026 program budget by about 15% and reduce staffing by roughly 19% underscore the gravity of the moment and the risk of weakening mandates just when needs are greatest—an outcome civil society has warned would be counter‑productive to UN Charter obligations and system integrity. 

Crucially, civil society and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)—including faith‑based actors—are not ancillary but indispensable to effective multilateralism. Civil society widens participation, defends civic space, and connects local realities to international norms, co‑creating policy and implementation with UN entities and Member States. Its rightful place is at—not near—the decision‑making table, supported by structured, standing dialogues, fair and accessible participation pathways (including hybrid/digital access), and co‑creation compacts embedded across agenda‑setting, drafting, and follow‑through. Investing in ethical rights‑based digital cooperation and community‑generated evidence further enables accountability and delivery, ensuring that “We, the peoples” are protagonists in global governance rather than passive beneficiaries. 

Building on a decade of Symposium dialogues—from the inaugural focus on human dignity to the human/shared security lens and the 10th‑anniversary recommitment to human rights—this 12th Symposium approaches UN80 with concrete guardrails and operational convergence. It advances tri‑vantage collaboration among faith‑based organizations, UN entities, and Member States so people‑ and planet‑centred outcomes remain at the heart of multilateral action. 

Objectives 

Against this daunting backdrop, the 12th Symposium aims to explore four key issues: 

1. Assess the state of multilateral cooperation through a shared normative lens. 

Take stock of current dynamics affecting international cooperation—especially developments touching international law, international humanitarian law, and human rights—with a view to affirming sovereign equality and preserving civic space as cornerstones of a rules‑based, inclusive multilateral order. 

2. Consider a UN “fit for purpose,” viewing UN80 as an opportunity to strengthen core mandates. 

Explore how ongoing and proposed reforms—including UN80—might enhance agility and integration while reinforcing the UN’s legal and normative commitments. Identify practical guardrails that help ensure reform efforts advance protection, participation, and accountability for all. 

3. Highlight core values and the indispensable partnership of civil society and faith‑based actors. 

Explore how values—dignity, stewardship, shared responsibility—support effective cooperation, and affirm the essential role of NGOs/civil society organizations, including faith‑based organizations, as co‑creators in shaping and implementing solutions alongside UN entities and Member States across the policy cycle. 

4. Affirm the enabling conditions requisite for effective multilateral action. 

Demonstrate that predictable and timely financing; inclusive and principled civil society access; and sustained cross‑sectoral collaboration are foundational to a rules‑based multilateral system grounded in the UN Charter’s commitments to dignity and human rights, to peace and security, and to sustainable development under the rule of law, including international law. The Symposium will underscore practices that translate dialogue into demonstrable progress and mutually reinforced commitments. 

Outcomes 

1. A deepened multi-sectoral exchange and enhanced mutual understanding of the issues impacting the UN and its underpinnings of international law and commitment to multilateral cooperation. 

2. Joint/collaborative follow-up to address these issues, based on ‘Tri‑Vantage Action Notes’ (one commitment each from faith-based organizations, UN entities, and Member States, plus one joint action), generated from each session of the Symposium, to translate dialogue into measurable progress over the next 6–12 months. 

Agenda 

Opening
High-level opening followed by a fireside chat to set the tone and open the conversation for the symposium. 

Panel A - Crisis of Multilateralism
Assess the state of multilateral cooperation through a shared normative lens. 

[Break] 

Panel B - UN80: Responding to the Changing Context
Explore how ongoing and proposed reforms—including UN80—might enhance agility and integration while reinforcing the UN’s legal and normative commitments. 

[Break] 

Panel C - Faith-based concerns for people and planet
Sharing the work faith-based organizations are doing to address pressing global issues such as displacement and climate-related impacts. 

[Break] 

Closing - From Values to Action
Reflect on the outcomes from the symposium and way forward. 

Unveiling of Peace Quilt and Networking Lunch
Hosted by the General Board of Church and Society of The United Methodist Church, Suite 7C of Church Center for the United Nations.
RSVP for lunch: [email protected]

The Annual Symposium on the Role of Religion and Faith-based Organizations in International Affairs marks a significant milestone as it celebrates its tenth edition in a distinguished series of annual gatherings that began in 2015. Faith-based partners initiated this symposium, which coincided with Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday that aimed at fostering dialogue on the intricate interplay between religion and international affairs. With a deliberate inclusion of UN member states and entities, the symposium sought to create a platform for collaborative policymaking and constructive engagement.

In 2016, the second symposium established a strong partnership with the UN Interagency Task Force on Religion and Sustainable Development, creating an annual policy dialogue involving UN entities, member states, faith-based actors, and civil society to address pressing global challenges. Past themes included human rights, preventing atrocities, promoting peace, addressing migration, and economic justice. The 2020 symposium was postponed, leading to a workshop for faith-based organizations. The 2021 and 2022 virtual  symposia focused on gender equality and combating systemic injustices. In 2023, the symposium emphasized human security. The upcoming 10th Symposium will reiterate commitment to human rights and dignity, fostering consensus for future events. It aims to inspire collective action for a compassionate society and aligns with the World Interfaith Harmony Week in February to promote understanding among diverse religious communities worldwide

Peter Prove
Email: [email protected]

Address:
777, United Nations Plaza
10017 New York, New York, USA