Geneva, London, 16 February 2018

The London-based Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) wrapped up on Thursday evening a meeting with the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG), Mr. Michael Møller.

The meeting was devoted to civil society organizations and NGOs in consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and has discussed the UN plan for 2018, among other related subjects.

Mr. Møller updated the attendees on the key-headlines undertaken by his office and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), along with the possible ways to maximize development in light of the constant cutback of the UN budgets.

Mr. Møller underscored the key role played by NGOs in tandem with the international community so as to boost development, promote human rights, and defend peoples’ cultural assets. The UN official called attention to the need to bridge the gap between the world’s governments and NGOs to those very ends.

He also warned of the upshots of cuts to funding for UNRWA and other UN-run bodies, saying urgent steps should be taken by the civil society institutions to fill in the gaps wrought by the funding crisis.

In Mr. Møller’s terms, the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals can only see the day if such a deficit is worked out by donors of both governments and the civil society.

PRC attended the meeting at the invitation of Mr. Møller’s office. The invitation was extended by UNOG’s Political Affairs and Partnerships Section. 

The meeting threw light on the UN agenda for 2018 and briefed a consortium of NGOs on the most-up-to-date developments in this regard. The latest such semi-annual meeting was held in October 2017.