{"id":6960,"date":"2023-04-28T15:55:48","date_gmt":"2023-04-28T20:55:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/?p=6960"},"modified":"2023-04-28T15:55:48","modified_gmt":"2023-04-28T20:55:48","slug":"april-updates-u-n-and-state-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/april-updates-u-n-and-state-edition\/","title":{"rendered":"April Updates: U.N. and State Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following are updates shared from submissions of the Lutheran Office for World Community and state public policy offices (sppos) in the ELCA Advocacy Network this month. Full list and map of sppos available<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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U.N.<\/a> | CALIFORNIA<\/a> \u00a0| COLORADO<\/a> | KANSAS<\/a> | MINNESOTA<\/a> | NEW MEXICO<\/a> | OHIO<\/a> | PENNSYLVANIA<\/a> | TEXAS<\/a> | WASHINGTON<\/a> | WISCONSIN<\/a> |<\/p>\n

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Lutheran Office for World Community (LOWC), United Nations, New York, N.Y. – ELCA.org\/lowc<\/a><\/h4>\n

Christine Mangale, Director<\/h4>\n

From March 6-17, 2023, LOWC hosted 30 Lutheran Delegates who attended the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in New York. The delegation represented Lutherans from Africa, Asia, Middle East, Latin America and North America. They were Lutheran Clergy, lay leadership, staff, issue experts, and youth and young people from throughout the global church. The theme for this year focused on \u201cInnovation and Technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.\u201d Our official statement to the Commission on the Status of Women in its 67<\/span>th<\/span> session is <\/span>located here<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lutheran delegates attended the CSW 67 both in-person and online (virtually) ensuring that the voices of faith-based organizations and communities were clearly represented in the Agreed Conclusions. Additionally, young delegates, including young Lutheran delegates from the ELCA Hunger Fellows program and the International Leaders Program took center stage at the commission. This is the first year that the CSW has included a youth session specifically for young people to engage with the theme of using technological innovation to promote gender justice and women\u2019s empowerment.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The commission closed with Agreed Conclusions at 3:00 AM on March 18<\/span>th<\/span>. LWF and LOWC staff will circulate analysis and next-steps from our official delegation over the coming weeks and will circulate our reporting when it is complete<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Our flagship event was entitled, <\/span>Harnessing digital technologies to end sexual and gender-based violence<\/span> Friday March 10, 2023.<\/span> Event sponsored by Lutheran World Federation. Professor Antje Jackel\u00e9n<\/span>, archbishop emerita of the Church of Sweden, provided the session opened with greetings from the LWF General Secretary <\/span>Rev. Dr. Anne Burghardt. Both interventions offered contextual grounding for the discussion. The session moved to a panel discussion moderated by ELCA Hunger Fellow Kayla Zopfi. The panel was made up of Rev. Dr. Debora Sinaga (Indonesia), Ameera Khamees (LWF Jordan), Miriam Alum (LWF Uganda) and Laura Gonzalez (LWF Columbia). Lutheran Pastor and Executive Director of Sonke Gender Justice, Rev. Bafana Khumalo (South <\/span>Africa)**<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Next year in March 2024, CSW 68 will focus on issues of Gender and Development Finance. Planning for our engagement in this important conference is beginning now.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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For the first time in 46 years the UN hosted a \u201c<\/span>UN Water Conference<\/span><\/b><\/a>.\u201d Held in New York from March 22-24<\/span>th<\/span> 2023, LOWC hosted a delegation from ELCA World Hunger and ELCA Advocacy as they engaged the United Nation Member States on their contributions to increasing access to the human right to water. The Lutheran Delegation presented during two official side-events:\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n