WFUNA Holds 40th Plenary Assembly in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - The World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA) held its 40th Plenary Assembly at IBMEC University (Barra da Tijuca campus) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 6-10 November 2012, with 41 UNAs in attendance.

Hosted by the United Nations Association of Brazil (UNA-Brazil), the Plenary Assembly was preceded by a seminar on the post-2015 development agenda and capacity-building sessions before proceeding with the Plenary Assembly from 8-10 November. Seven new UNAs were admitted to WFUNA, three new Vice-Presidents were elected to WFUNA leadership, and ten new UNA leaders were elected to the Executive Committee. 

All outcome documents with a detailed summary from the Plenary Assembly are available in the sidebar. The following are links to Plenary day-by-day recaps and multimedia. 

• UNA Activity Report 2009-2011 (2012 Edition)
• Video Message from Secretary-General Mr. Ban Ki-moon
• Video Message from High Commissioner for Human Rights Ms. Navi Pillay
• Video Message from Special Adviser on Post-2015 Development Planning Ms. Amina Mohamed
• 7-11 November, Global Youth Forum
• 6 November, Beyond 2015: From MDGs to SDGs Seminar
  
• 7 November, Capacity-building Sessions, Information Exchange, and Regional Meetings
  
• 8 November, Day 1 of the 40th WFUNA Plenary Assembly
  
• 9 November, Day 2 of the 40th WFUNA Plenary Assembly
  
• 10 November, Day 3 of the 40th WFUNA Plenary Assembly

Saturday, 10 November: Plenary Assembly Day 3

The Plenary Assembly closed its final day with adoptions of resolutions put forth by UNAs, as well as the election and re-election of Executive Committee members. Read the closing speech by Amb. Park Soo Gil, President of WFUNA. 

• Download UNA photos from the Plenary Assembly
• View our photo gallery

Friday, 9 November: Plenary Assembly Day 2

The second full day of the Plenary Assembly ended with discussions on both a commission on resolutions and a commission on WFUNA organizational matters and the Rio Declaration. A final draft of the Rio Declaration will be available following the close of the Plenary Assembly. WFUNA once again elected its leadership, including the re-election of Amb. Park Soo Gil as President, Mr. Bonian Golmohammadi as Secretary-General, and Mr. Sundeep Bhutoria as Treasurer. New leadership included vice-presidents Ms. Janet Edna Nyame of UNA-Ghana, Amb. Chang-beom Cho of UNA-ROK, and Dr. Axel Wuestenhagen of UNA-Austria. 

• View the photo gallery
• Download photos from our Facebook album

Thursday, 8 November: Plenary Assembly Day 1

The 40th WFUNA Plenary Assembly began with a speech by Amb. Park Soo Gil, President of WFUNA, and a video message from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Greeting the UNAs and focusing on his five point action plan, the Secretary-General particularly thanking all UNAs for "joining forces to advance the United Nations and for being [the United Nations'] strongest allies and advocates in communities around the world." 

The session then continued on the work of the agenda with Mr. Bonian Golmohammadi, Secretary-General of WFUNA, going over WFUNA's Annual Report of 2009-2011 and took questions and comments from the UNAs participating in the Plenary Assembly. The afternoon session held three panels on the work of the United Nations Associations - peace and security, from UNA-Republic of Korea, UNA-UK, UNA-Armenia, UNA-Sweden, UNA-Denmark, and UNA-Australia; human rights and a lively discussion on human rights work with UNA-Georgia, UNA-USA, UNA-India, and UNA-Venezuela, with an opening message from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Navi Pillay; and a sustainable development panel with UNA-Canada, UNA-Suriname, UNA-China,and UNA-Russia.  

Closing the day's activities was a final session on the day's agenda.

• View the photo gallery here and here
• Download photos from our Facebook album

Wednesday, 7 November: Capacity-Building Sessions

Photos now on Facebook and on our website. 

Prior to beginning the 40th WFUNA Plenary Assembly, the WFUNA Secretariat held capacity-building sessions for all participants on everything from organizational matters to fundraising and online communications. Parallel to the sessions were information exchange sessions where UNAs were able to share their experiences and activities on their work, as well as current collaboration with their fellow UNAs. 

Following the day-long capacity-building sessions were regional meetings for the UNAs from the Asia-Pacific, Europe, South America, North America, and Africa, as well as 204th Executive Committee Meeting, and the Heads of Delegation meeting. An informal dinner was hosted by WFUNA was held for all participants at Porcao. 

Tuesday, 6 November: Seminar on "2015 and Beyond: From MDGs to SDGs"

Watch this video message from Ms. Amina Mohamed, Special Adviser to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Post-2015 Development Planning. 

• View our photo gallery
• Download our photos from our Facebook album
• Storify Recap: Closing Panel
• Storify Recap: From MDGs to SDGs, Panel 2
• Storify Recap: From MDGs to SDGs, Panel 1
• Click here for a complete timetable of panels and a list of speakers [pdf]

Monday, 5 November: Prepping for the Plenary

UNA-Brazil and WFUNA worked with IBMEC University student volunteers to prepare for the Plenary Assembly by setting up the venue and conference spaces. 

UNA Activity Report 2009-2011

Read about the activities of our more than 100 United Nations Associations over the last three years.