Madeleine Brecher reports on the Women Ambassadors' Luncheon at the United Nations on Monday November 3.

A group of 9 NGO Representatives, including ICJW representatives, sponsored the new Israel Ambassador, H.E. Ms. Gabriela Shalev who sat at our table. We had a lovely visit with her, albeit a rather brief one as the British Ambassador to the UN was honoring her today at another luncheon. The photo shows us together.

Ms. Shalev will be meeting the entire Jewish NGO caucus in February at a small luncheon so we will have an opportunity to hear further about her first few months in the halls of the U.N. She did acknowledge it was a challenging assignment but we are all thrilled to have a woman at the helm of the Israeli UN delegation in NY.

The other Ambassadors being honored were from Ecuador, Gambia, Luxembourg, Mongolia, Nigeria, Romania and Trinidad and Tobago. They each spoke about how they were the first woman ever appointed to this position by their country and they told us how we must all work together to speak out in behalf of rural women and those others who do not have a platform to speak for themselves. They were so honored at receiving this recognition.

The keynote address was by Stephen Lewis who is Co-Director of AIDS-Free World and the Former UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. He was passionate about the immediate need for a UN Agency for Women  as part of the UN Systemwide Coherence plan developed in 2006. He said it is a disgrace that the nations of the world have not spoken out with outrage to raise the alarm and/or to intercede to stop the mass rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Despite the Resolution by the Security Council in June against violence against women including rape, still nothing is being done to protect women.

It was a wonderful event and I was very proud to represent ICJW and to be a member of the CSW Executive Committee!