United Nations – New York – Dominican Sisters International Confederation

Sr. Durstyne Farnan, O.P. DSIC Representative at UN – New York

The Dominican Sisters have had an accredited non-governmental (NGO) presence at the United Nations in New York through the Dominican Leadership Conference (DLC) since 2002. As our Dominican Brothers at the UN in Geneva, Nairobi and Vienna, we are at the UN in an effort to engage in advocacy on behalf of human rights. As such, we join our voice with other NGOs in an effort to influence the discourse on critical global policy issues. Our areas of involvement have included participation on the NGO Committees for Social Development; the Status of Women; Migration; Homelessness; and the NGO Mining Work Group. A more recent involvement is in the area of nuclear disarmament.

In an effort to connect our Sisters at the grassroots level with the work of the UN, DSI works in conjunction with its Sister in New York to provide an experience for Sisters to attend the annual UN Commission on the Status of Women, held each year in March. Besides providing our Sisters with a concrete experience of the workings of the UN regarding the topic of women and girls worldwide, it also offers an experience of global solidarity among us as Sisters; each from her own particular country, but all sharing in the same struggles to advocate for the dignity of women and girls, and to empower them to be their best selves in every possible way.

Our current UN Representative is Sr. Durstyne Farnan, OP (Dominican Sister from Adrian, Michigan, USA).

UN Commission on the Status of Women