The United Nations Association of Australia (UNAA) is the official non-profit,
non-government, membership-based, organisation in Australia working on behalf of the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
core body to promote its overall aims and ideals, and equally seeking to build support for the UN's programs, activities, and agencies. The UNAA official mission is "to inform, inspire and engage all Australians regarding the work, goals and values of the UN to create a safer, fairer and more sustainable world". It has division offices in every
State and Territory of Australia
The states and territories are federated administrative divisions in Australia, ruled by regional governments that constitute the second level of governance between the federal government and local governments. States are self-governing pol ...
, with the national office run out of
Canberra
Canberra ( )
is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
.
History
The UNAA was established in 1946 and in the following decades, the Association and its state divisions grew and expanded their programs. In 1979 the Victorian division established the annual Media Peace Awards, followed by the establishment of the World Environment Day Awards. During the International Year of the Tree (1982), the UNAA and the Nursery Industry Association of Australia founded an environmental organisation;
Greening Australia
Greening Australia is an Australian environmental organisation, founded in 1982, the International Year of the Tree, to protect, restore and conserve Australia's native vegetation. Greening Australia was formed by the United Nations Association ...
, to protect, restore, and conserve Australia's native vegetation.
Description and governance
The UNAA works closely with United Nations specialised agencies and departments such as the
UNDPI,
UNIC
Unic was a French manufacturer founded in 1905, and active as an automobile producer until July 1938. After this the company continued to produce commercial vehicles, retaining its independence for a further fourteen years before being purcha ...
, and
UNHCR
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrati ...
, and has consultative status with
ECOSOC
The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC; french: links=no, Conseil économique et social des Nations unies, ) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations, responsible for coordinating the economic and social fields ...
as a member of the
World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA). The organisation also works closely with the
Australian Government
The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government i ...
, especially the
Australian Department of Foreign Affairs
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is the department of the Australian federal government responsible for foreign policy and relations, international aid (using the branding Australian Aid), consular services and trade and inv ...
(DFAT) and Australian parliamentarians.
The UNAA is governed by a National Board which meets quarterly. The National Board elects a representative Executive Team, including National Executive Director, currently Lachlan Hunter, to take responsibility for the ongoing work nationally. Its national president is Mario D'Elia, who succeeded Major General (Ret'd) Michael G. Smith in 2019, who in turn succeeded
Australian Senator Russell Trood in 2016, who in turn had succeeded Australian Politician
Robert Hill in 2012.
What it does
The UNAA also works to support various initiatives of the United Nations which focus on key international affairs topics such as (but not exclusive to):
*
Climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
*
Gender equality
Gender equality, also known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making; and the state of valuing d ...
*
Reconciliation with Australia's Indigenous peoples
*
Refugees
A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.
*
Sustainable development
Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The des ...
goals
The UNAA hosts over 150 events a year across Australia; hosts public awards ceremonies on a variety of social, media, and environmental topics; drives celebratory UN observance day activities; operates development projects overseas and generally acts as a key link between the UN and the Australian public.
The UNAA group includes a national academic network, a federal parliamentary group, divisions in every state and territory, a Young Professionals network, a Youth network, and a national office.
Media Peace Awards
The UNAA Media Peace Awards, established in 1979, were awarded on
UN Day
United Nations Day is an annual commemorative day, reflecting the official creation of the United Nations on 24 October 1945. In 1947, the United Nations General Assembly declared 24 October, the anniversary of the Charter of the United Nations, ...
(24 October), to recognise Australian
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
s and media organisations "who had excelled in their promotion of human rights and issues".
Justice Kirby
Michael Donald Kirby (born 18 March 1939) is an Australian jurist and academic who is a former Justice of the High Court of Australia, serving from 1996 to 2009. He has remained active in retirement; in May 2013 he was appointed by the United ...
referred to the award as the Australian Media Peace Prize in his address at the 1981 presentation of the prize. These Awards, later known as the UNAA Media Awards, or simply UN Day Media Awards, are no longer being presented,
[ with the last being the 2018 awards, presented in 2019 by SBS journalist Sarah Abo.
In 1983, the film '']Women of the Sun
''Women of the Sun'' is an Australian historical drama television miniseries that was broadcast on SBS Television and later the Australian Broadcasting Company in 1981. The series, co-written by Sonia Borg and Hyllus Maris, was composed of four ...
'' won the award.
Film producer Darren Dale
Darren Dale is an Indigenous Australian film and television producer. Since joining Blackfella Films as a producer in 2001, he is co-director of the company, along with founder Rachel Perkins. Dale is known for co-producing many films and tel ...
has won the award twice.
A 2015 finalist was an IQ2 debate
Intelligence Squared is a media company that organizes live debates and other cultural events around the world. It was founded in 2002 in London, where its head office is based, and has affiliates in the US, Australia, and Hong Kong. The debate ...
at The Ethics Centre, for "its role in stimulating public awareness and understanding". The debate achieved prominence in the media owing to an address by journalist Stan Grant on "racism and the Australian Dream".
Model United Nations
The UNAA’s Victorian division hosts student Model United Nations (MUN) Conferences in high schools and universities around the state. These day-long conferences aim to increase student awareness of the United Nations, its processes, values, and the complex issues brought before the UN and the international community, while developing a sense of civic responsibility as future global citizens.
UNAA Young Professionals Network
The UNAA Young Professionals (UNAA YP) network involves and inspires young professionals throughout Australia in international affairs and the work of the United Nations around the world, through fund-raising, awareness-raising, and advocacy campaigns.
United Nations Youth Australia (UNYA)
United Nations Youth Australia (UNYA) is a youth led organisation, born out of the organisation in the 1970s. Its members are aged below 25 years.
{{webarchive , url=https://unyouth.org.au} UN Youth Australia is not a division of, or run by, the UNAA.
References
{{Reflist
External links
*{{official, https://www.unaa.org.au/
{{Authority control
{{DEFAULTSORT:United Nations Association Of Australia
World Federation of United Nations Associations
Political organisations based in Australia
Organizations established in 1945