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Important News and Announcements
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Upcoming:
Sunday, September 21: Keynote Speaker
Climate Change and Peace: Why the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change won the Nobel Peace Prize with Daniel M. Kammen, UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, UC Berkeley Professor of Energy and Society, Energy and Resources Group from 3 p.m. to 6 pm. at 2299 Piedmont Ave., Berkeley, CA (International House).
Tuesday, October 7: Film Night
The United Nations of San Francisco and the Search for Common Ground invite you to attend a special screening and discussion of two award-winning films, "One People, One Planet," at 6:30 p.m., and "Beyond Belief" at 7 p.m. at the Varsity Screening Room, 582 Market St. (at 2nd St.). The cost of the event is $10. Checks must be made out to UNA and should be sent to Cecile Chiquette at 120 Montgomergy Street, Suite 2075, San Francisco, CA, 94104. Seating is limited.
Thursday, October 23: United Nations Day
Gillian Sorenson of the UN Foundation will speak to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Awards will be given to Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. 5:30 p.m. -7:30 p.m. with a free screening of “The Visitor” afterwards. This event will be held in the War Memorial Building's Green Room, near Civic Center in San Francisco at 401 Van Ness Avenue (near McAllister).
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Visit San Francisco's UN Attractions
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• While in San Francisco, be sure to visit the United Nations Plaza. The Plaza honors the ideals expressed in the founding of the United Nations. Learn more... This document is a pdf file (3 MB). You need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this file. If you do not have the Reader download it for free here.
• War Memorial Veterans Building - In 1945, the Charter for the United Nations was signed in the auditorium of this building , now known as the Herbst Theatre. A mural capturing the historic signing is displayed in the theatre. The War Memorial Veterans Building is on the corner of Van Ness St. and McAllister St. It is part of San Francisco's Civic Center area. See yellow highlighted area on map for location.
• San Francisco Fast Facts
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Message from the President
The UN in Action
Kimberly Weichel, President, UNA-SF
As we near UN Day, October 24, it's useful to learn about some of the many ways in which the United Nations assists people each day around the world. Every time I travel overseas I hear stories about how the UN has helped people by the UN's many programs and initiatives that we rarely hear about in our mainstream media.
As the UN and Global Affairs Correspondent for Positive Spin TV show, I'm able to learn about some of these inspiring stories each month. They include:
Among Sudan's 34 million people, more than two and a half million people are nomads. UNICEF 's mobile school program provides children from these families with a basic education. It has been difficult for the children to attend school in the past as families moved from place to place in search of water and pasturage. The 1994 mobile school program has enrolled more than 110,000 boys and girls since its inception.
Twelve years ago, genocide and war in Rwanda devastated the country and affected the lives of most of the population. After fleeing her country, Beatrice Gakuba has returned to help rebuild it. She has successfully launched an international flower company, Rwanda Flora. Women represent 80% of the workforce. With clients from all over the world, this rose-based business is helping to alleviate poverty in Rwanda and improve people's lives.
The population of dolphins, an extremely popular and intelligent animal, continues to dwindle in spite of commercial hunting bans. Many get accidentally caught every year in fishing nets all over the globe. A program funded through the UN Development Program is distributing acoustic devices to fishermen in the Black Sea to help keep dolphins at bay.
We'd love to hear any UN stories you have. You can email them to us here here.
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