FEZANA UN-NGO Committee Annual Report
May 2018 – April 2019
32nd Annual General Meeting
Orlando, Florida, USA
Behram Pastakia, bpastakia@aol.com
Afreed Mistry, afreed.mistry@gmail.com
Co-Chairs, FEZANA UN-NGO committee
PAST
FEZANA was placed on the Roster of non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations (UN) in 1997 and is now registered with the Department of Public Information (DPI). The UN-NGO Committee became a FEZANA Standing Committee in April 2018 at the FEZANA AGM.
PRESENT
This year FEZANA’s representatives to the UN are:
Afreed Mistry – Main
Homi D. Gandhi
Behram Pastakia
Sabrina Billimoria – Youth
The FEZANA UN-NGO team supports the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.
They can be accessed on the FEZANA website, under the UN-NGO tab from the home page:
https://fezana.org/sustainable-goals-united-nations-development-program/
High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development – UN Headquarters, New York
FEZANA participated in the High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development at the United Nations Headquarters from July 9th to 13th, 2018 in New York.
The theme of the Forum was, “Transformation towards sustainable and resilient societies”. The set of Sustainable Developmental Goals that were reviewed in depth were:
Goal 6: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
Goal 7: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
Goal 11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
Goal 15: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.
The participants representing FEZANA were: Armita Behboodi (Toronto, Canada), Karl Desai (London, UK), Sohrab Gheibi (New York, USA), Bijan Kavoosi (California, USA), Bita Kavoosi (Colorado, USA), Parivash Khosraviani (California, USA), Vaishnavi Krishnan (Michigan, USA).
DPI NGO Conference – UN Headquarters, New York
FEZANA participated in the DPI NGO Conference at the United Nations Headquarters from August 22-23, 2018. The theme of the conference was, “We the Peoples… Together Finding Global Solutions for Global Problems”. The participants representing FEZANA were from Canada and USA: Homi D. Gandhi, Arta Khosravi, Afreed Mistry, Arian Sasani and Zenia Shroff.
Know your Neighbour Campaign – Washington, DC
Know Your Neighbor: Multifaith Encounters (KYN-ME) is a national grassroots interfaith program that is the outgrowth of the Know Your Neighbor coalition of around 15 groups that was launched at the White House in December 2015 to work on policy concerning civil rights.
Behnoosh Sethna from Washington, DC represented Zoroastrians on the Conference Bicycle being peddled on Embassy Row to promote the Know Your Neighbour Campaign.
Educating Girls: An Empowering Tool to Promote Prosperity & Gender Equality – Presentation at ZAGNY
The FEZANA UN-NGO Committee members took a trip to New York during the time of the UN Commission on the Status of Women Conference. They had the opportunity to meet local Zoroastrians at the Zoroastrian Association of Greater New York in Pomona, NY.
On Sunday, March 10th, the UN-NGO Committee members presented a workshop on, “Educating Girls: An Empowering Tool to Promote Prosperity and Gender Equality”. The workshop was attended by The Goldies from the NY and NJ area, along with some youth.
The team comprised of 9 people: Tanya Bharda, Nadia Jam, Nurelle Mehta and Afreed Mistry from Toronto, Rosheen Birdie from Washington State, Behram Pastakia and Behnoosh Sethna from Washington, D.C., Adina Mistry and Anahita Verahrami from New York.
FEZANA’s presentation covered how education empowers the girls in the villages to eliminate poverty. Topics covered were the empowerment of adolescent girls in rural India by Afreed and Adina. The effects of environmental degradation on the indigenous tribes in Central Africa by Anahita. The effects of lands mines on children in Nepal by Nadia and the interventions of several NGO’s on education of the girl child in the slums of Mumbai by Tanya. The presentation touched on United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, #1 – NO Poverty, Goal #4 – Quality Education and Goal #5 – Gender Equality.
Commission on the Status of Women – UN Headquarters, New York
This year the Commission on the Status of Women took place in March 2019. FEZANA sent a group of 9 people to the conference (listed above). The same workshop presented at ZAGNY was presented at the United Nations to a packed room of people. The video of the presentation can be seen from the FEZANA website: https://youtu.be/Xpygmrh-Eks
International Day of Trees
Aysha Ghadiali had written an article on March 21, 2019 at the US Department of Agriculture on the International Day of Trees, to show how forest fires are preventable, world wide, by creating awareness of the issue by deployment of eye catching mascots. https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2015/03/20/us-forest-service-and-international-day-forests
Working with FEZANA Small Groups
The Chair of FEZANA Small Groups, Saghar Javanshir, from Dallas, Texas, is working with her team to determine how the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN which are environmentally focused, can be implemented at the local level in cities across North America.
FUTURE
Oceans
World Oceans Day is on June 8th each year. We are looking for representatives from all North American Associations to take on an oceans or water project for their local area. This will help in working towards sustainable goal #14 at the UN which is, “Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.”
68th United Nations Civil Society Conference (DPI NGO Conference)
The 68th United Nations Civil Society Conference, which was known as the DPI NGO Conference, will take place August 23rd to 26th, 2019 in Salt Lake City, Utah. There is a call out for participants to apply to attend the conference. The theme of the conference is: “Building inclusive and sustainable communities.” Registration is open between now and July 15th. The UN will be accepting a certain number of applications from people who do not belong to an NGO. Everyone is welcome to apply. The concept note for the conference can be found here: https://outreach.un.org/ngorelations/content/uncsc2019/concept-note
Day to Serve
International Day for Peace is Sept. 21st and the International Day of Non-Violence is Oct. 2nd each year. We encourage local Associations to organize an event in harmony with the 17 sustainable development goals from the UN during this season of service, in the fall each year. Reports of events can be uploaded on Day To Serve – http://daytoserve.org
Replica of the Cylinder of Cyrus
We would like to present the Cyrus Cylinder to the Human Rights Museum in Winnipeg. The museum already has one huge wall for Human Rights and about King Cyrus. We would like to add to that display. Preferably on October 29th of any given year as that is the day in 539 BCE that King Cyrus entered the city of Babylon and claimed himself King of Babylon.
The FEZANA UN NGO Committee Calendar of Events
The United Nations provides a wealth of opportunities in all walks of human life and behavior.
Given our strengths and limitations, the committee prioritizes areas which we consider to be in harmony with our faith traditions, beliefs, and abilities.
From the outset, our focus has been on supporting youth and helping causes related to caring for the environment. We are open to using all tools in the social arena, music, art, creative writing, poetry, film, videos, service, food and festivals to promote this agenda in the public square.
Action programs at the local level are especially encouraged.
To give a structure as to what works best for us, certain dates on the calendar are given special emphasis. The FEZANA UN NGO Calendar is as follows:
January:
Bio data and names of CSW participants published in FEZANA Bulletin
Preparing for CSW workshops, with power point presentation and conference calls
February:
First week of February ~ Interfaith Harmony Week
Second week of February ~ Press Release for CSW participation annually released to media.
Conference call with participants to give details of what to expect at the UN.
March:
FEZANA UN-NGO team at the UN HQ in New York.
Sunday… before the CSW.. Consultation Day for CSW
International Women’s Day
Articles for publication in FEZANA Journal or Bulletin, due in the second week of the CSW meeting.
21 March: NowRuz, an intangible heritage of Humanity, designated by UN General Assembly celebrated locally at homes, associations, museums, public libraries.
21 March: International Day of Trees.. ties in with ancient Iranian Zoroastrian traditions of caring for trees, Rooz e Derekhtkari. Partnering with local like-minded NGO’s to plant trees.
22 March: World Water Day. The Decade for clean water is designated from 2018 to 2028.
30 March: Complete annual report for FEZANA AGM sent to FEZANA Admin.
April:
22 April: Earth Day Celebration
30 April: Attendance at FEZANA AGM.
May:
International Nurses Day at the UN HQ in New York on the first Friday of May.
June:
5 June: World Environment Day
21 June: International Day of Yoga
August:
DPI NGO Conference at UN HQ – when held, as advised by DPI
Call for participation sent out at the CSW meeting for subsequent year
September:
21 September: International Day of Prayer for Peace.
A Season of Service… from 21 September to 2 October
Local service project to be uploaded at www.daytoserve.org
October:
2 October: International Day of Nonviolence
November:
PAHO/ WHO Regional HQ
www.rad-aid.org
Washington DC
First week of November: Finalize selection for CSW team to represent FEZANA
Second week of November: Submit annual report to DPI for approval of NGO Status.
December:
10 December: Send names for CSW from UN NGO Committee to FEZANA Bulletin.
Third week in December – UN informs of workshops that have been approved for CSW Conference
