On the occasion of Bruce Knotts' retirement, we would like to extend our gratitude and appreciation for his fifteen years of service as Director of the UUA Office at the United Nations....

Next week’s Holistic Climate Solutions Summit, in alignment with Climate Week NYC, is being organized by the Tzu Chi Center For Compassionate Relief together with 30 co-organizing partners including the UUA Office at the United Nations. The Summit is a solutions space, modeling a better future by...

Thirty years have passed since the official end of the Cold War—when tensions surrounding the use of nuclear weapons was at its highest—and the world is seeing a resurgence in the use of nuclear threats by leaders as a way to display power. With the ongoing war in Ukraine, one certainly...

Post-Imperial Futures: Addressing Legacy and Living Into Promise On October 6-8, 2022, the UUA International Office and Meadville Lombard Theological School will host a conference to address the legacy of Empire and its desire to dominate and mark out Otherness has us participate in...

In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals that range in subject from gender equality, ending poverty, and sustainable cities and communities. Developing our world to ensure everyone is afforded...

This post was originally sent out on June 20 via a monthly email message from Director Bruce Knotts of the Unitarian Universalist Association Office at the United Nations. Subscribe to the UU@UN email list. The Keynote speakers at this year’s Intergenerational Spring Seminar were the Pacific...

This post was originally sent out on March 25 via a monthly email message from Director Bruce Knotts of the Unitarian Universalist Association Office at the United Nations. Subscribe to the UU@UN email list. Each year at the United Nations, we follow a pattern of important events based on regular...

As the situation in the Ukraine unfolds, we in the International Office echo the messages shared by UUSC’s president the Rev. Mary Katherine Morn and by the Rev. Ashley Horan of the UUA’s Organizing Strategy Team. We invite congregations to support the Hungarian Unitarian Church directly (pdf)...

The Parliament of the World's Religions and The Committee of Religious NGOs at the UN, in partnership with communities of faith, invite you to join the "Global Prayers for Ukraine: a multi-faith service for peace and freedom in a hurting world."

“Using Art as Advocacy” was a webinar hosted on February 17, 2022 by the UU@UN (Unitarian Universalist Association’s office at the United Nations). This event showed how art can be used to build community and inspire change in chaotic times. Art can result in profound social change when used...

The United Nations Headquarters in New York City had hoped to begin 2022 by opening its doors and welcoming the world back home. However, the Omicron variant of COVID-19 has disrupted UN plans as it has everyone else’s.

We are excited to share an update about the UUA Office at the UN’s upcoming Intergenerational Spring Seminar, “Displacement and Human Rights: All In for Climate Justice.” Programming for the 2022 Intergenerational Seminar will be offered fully online, April 22 – May 1, 2022. The online...

In honor of those whose land and lives have been stolen, the UUA holds space to reflect on the atrocities of colonization, and affirms our solidarity with those who continue to fight for Indigenous sovereignty. We honor the missing and murdered Indigenous women and children. We uplift Indigenous...

Was COP26 a success? Or a failure? I believe it’s most accurate, if unsatisfying, to answer “both” – and “neither.” Each year since the Convention was adopted in 1994, the secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has convened a Conference of Parties (COP),...

Hello to the UUA Community! I am Pierre Candelon, and here at COP26 I co-coordinate a network of stakeholders (practitioners, activists, decision-makers, academics) called the Loss and Damage Collaboration.

As a child, I could not tell that day by day, I was growing. Instead, my father marked my height every year so we could see how much I had grown. October 24, 2021 is the 76th birthday of the United Nations. The UN Charter was signed in 1945 by the representatives of 51 nations. (All those...

Fund Transfers As the UU Partner Church Council ceases operations, the UUA will facilitate funds transfers between partner churches. If you plan to send funds to your partner church, please complete the form below and follow its instructions....

This post was originally sent out on September 24 via a monthly email message from Director Bruce Knotts of the Unitarian Universalist Association Office at the United Nations. Subscribe to the UU@UN email list....

In a few days, the UN will convene people virtually from around the world for a Food Systems Summit aimed at transforming food systems globally to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. In 2015, the UN set 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable...

Human-made climate change has contributed to global displacement of tens of millions. An international approach, prioritizing human life over political and corporate power, is the only effective solution.

The world seems to be witnessing a growth in authoritarian governments. Especially during difficult times, we must work to hold human rights violators accountable.

Food security is a pressing issue around the globe, and it’s on the rise. The United Nations estimated that nearly 9% of the world’s population suffered from chronic hunger in 2019. With the COVID-19 pandemic causing surges in food prices, impacting availability of high-nutrient food, and...

The 2021 Intergenerational Seminar focused on grounding, connecting, and equipping attendees to create climate and food justice.

Reflecting on the recent Intergenerational Spring Seminar, UU@UN Director Bruce Knotts urges readers to reject indifference in the face of urgent issues like climate justice and food equity. We need instead to be all in.

White supremacist and nationalist ideologies are rising to power globally, a trend that manifests in surging anti-immigrant policies. The UN and UUA Office at the UN are working to address this.

Like much of the world, we in the UUA Office at the United Nations have operated virtually for nearly a year – and we have done so very effectively. We have attended and hosted meetings and events online. We have mentored and worked with interns and colleagues. Other than infrequent visits, we...

This post was originally sent out on February 19 via a monthly email message from Director Bruce Knotts of the Unitarian Universalist Association Office at the United Nations. Subscribe to the UU@UN email list. All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with...

This post was originally sent out on January 25 via a monthly email message from Director Bruce Knotts of the Unitarian Universalist Association Office at the United Nations. Subscribe to the UU@UN email list....

This post was originally sent out on December 28 via a monthly email message from Director Bruce Knotts of the Unitarian Universalist Association Office at the United Nations. Subscribe to the UU@UN email list. Why are Unitarian Universalists at the United Nations? At a recent meeting of the NGO...

For UN Human Rights Day, on December 8 at 12PM EST, the Unitarian Universalist Association at the United Nations will be hosting “The Right to Joy: Women of African Descent Ascending”, a webinar organized to celebrate the perseverance of women of African descent globally. The joyous event has...

For five weeks in the fall of 2020, the International Unitarian/Universalist Joint Working Group (Unitarian Universalist Association International Office, the International Council of Unitarians and Universalists, and the UU Partner Church Council) hosted a five-part webinar series that posed the...

In its 75 years, the United Nations has seen slow but significant shifts in how power is exercised by Member States and civil society within its systems.

This post was originally sent out on October 23 via a monthly email message from Director Bruce Knotts of the Unitarian Universalist Association Office at the United Nations. Subscribe to the UU@UN email list. The world and the United Nations needs the United States to lead....

Greetings to the Unitarian Universalist community! My name is Shanice Bryant and I am overjoyed to join the Unitarian Universalist Association Office at the United Nations this academic year. As an intern, I hope to use my privilege to work toward domestic and global liberation in historically...

Hello Unitarian Universalist community! My name is Noorjahan Aktar and I am excited to be a part of the team at the Unitarian Universalist Office at the United Nations this year....

My name is Ashley Emuka and I am excited to be working with the Unitarian Universalist Association at the United Nations this year! As a UU@UN intern, I hope to use this opportunity to learn more about global collaboration and advocacy for radical change to serve marginalized people worldwide.

National elections have a much more global impact than we sometimes consider. Take the world community into account when filling out your ballot.

This post was originally sent out on September 25 via a monthly email message from Director Bruce Knotts of the Unitarian Universalist Association Office at the United Nations. Subscribe to the UU@UN email list. Together with the rest of the world, we mourn the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Content warning: This article contains descriptions of the nature of domestic violence and intimate partner violence. It does not contain any graphic depictions of violence or abuse. The final paragraph contains information about resources....

In light of recent controversy about Mark Zuckerberg suing Hawaiians for their land, this article delves into land ownership in light of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

If you grew up in the U.S., you may have learned in school that the media is the fourth branch of the government. The media is not part of the federal government, but it “checks” public officials by fact checking their statements and providing the public with inside information they wouldn’t...

In its funding round during the months of quarantine, the UU Funding Panel (UUFP) gave its full support to realize the Strategic Plan of the UU Church of the Philippines (UUCP). The UUCP plan envisioned church communities that are life-giving, learning, and loving in material and spiritual ways....

Police forces in the U.S. are notoriously more violent and deadly than police in other Western democracies. Over the last seven years, U.S. police have killed at least 1,000 people every year. This is not normal.

The Black Lives Matter Movement began in 2013 after the murder of Trayvon Martin. Trayvon, a teenage African American boy was followed by a suspicious neighborhood watchman. The two ended up getting in a scuffle, and Trayvon was fatally shot. After the shooting, many Americans, especially Black...

As this health crisis reaches all corners of our global family of faith, we in the International U/U Joint Working Group wish to offer our heartfelt prayers, thoughts, and blessings to you and your communities. Our diverse faith, strong and united offers us the reminder that we are better and more resilient together.

The time has almost come for the 2020 UU-UNO Intergenerational Spring Seminar! With only two weeks left to register, participants have a lot to look forward to. Gathering from all over the United States and Canada, youth and adults with a shared passion for and commitment to international human...

The United States has made little effort to improve their relationship with Native Americans compared to what other countries have done with indigenous populations. Starting in the 1600s Native American history has been riddled with mass genocide, residential schools, and discriminatory laws. The...

When I arrived at my hotel in Madrid the lobby was abuzz with a crowd of young people from Asia and Romania who had arrived to join Friday’s march of half a million people to demand climate action. The most visible public voice was Greta Thunberg, the Swedish student who had risen to world fame...

If conflict is inevitable in human relations, so might be efforts to reconcile and reach a state of peace. ...

We know we are facing an existential crisis with the advance of climate change; and what about the other existential threat? Nuclear weapons. Unless we arrest climate change, it will fundamentally change our civilization in a matter of decades, maybe threaten life on this planet. Nuclear weapons...