World Federation for Mental Health: WFMH at the UN (Last Updated On: 19.09.2023) Advocacy by the World Federation for Mental Health at UN Agencies During 2006 Background The World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH) has had special consultative status at the United Nations since 1963. Its association with UN agencies stretches back even further, to the founding of the UN system in 1948 and its own foundation in London that same year. WFMH was granted consultative status by the World Health Organization and UNESCO in 1948 and worked with these two agencies on various projects. Other UN offices with which it has had later contacts include the International Labour Organization, UNICEF, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the World Bank. Currently its main associations are with the Economic and Social Council of the UN in New York , the UN Department of Public Information in New York , the UN Office in Geneva and the World Health Organization in Geneva . Activities in 2006 UN New York Mental health issues affecting women have a high priority in WFMHs advocacy at the UN. As in previous years, WFMH delegates attended the annual meeting of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (50 th Session, 27 February 10 March 2006). The Federation sponsored two panels, An Asian Perspective on Mental Health Promotion as the Key to Womens Empowerment and Addressing the Psychosocial Impact of Violence Against Women. A former WFMH Board member, Prof. Chueh Chang, was the facilitator for the Asian panel, and another WFMH member, Dr. Shu Yu Lyu, gave a special presentation at this meeting. WFMHs Main UN Representative Nancy Wallace, LMSW, and Prof. Ricki Kantrowitz, also a WFMH UN Representative, led the second panel and participated in a special side event on Violence against Women: From Critical Concerns to Collective Action. Prof. Kantrowitz was one of the moderators and program organizers of a panel on Women, Well-Being and Development jointly organized with the NGO Committee on Mental Health, International Association of Schools of Social Work and Zonta International. WFMH was instrumental in drafting a statement on the mental health needs of women submitted to the Commission by the NGO Committee on Mental Health on behalf of its member organizations. The World Federation for Mental Health remains deeply involved in the NGO Committee on Mental Health, a member of CONGO (Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the UN). WFMH helped to found this NGO Committee in 1996 through the initiative of its longtime Main Representative at the UN, Nancy Wallace. Ms. Wallace headed the Executive Committee for many years. The current chairperson is Janice Wood Wetzel of the International Association of Schools of Social Work. Ms Wallace currently serves as ex-officio chair, and WFMH Representative Gary S. Belkin, MD, is a member-at-large. Through the NGO Committees efforts, the UN Secretary General releases a message each year to coincide with the World Mental Health Day campaign organized by WFMH. Secretary General Kofi Annans message for the start of the campaign on 10 October 2006 highlighted the link between serious mental illness and suicide. Nancy Wallace was the organizer and moderator of a World Mental Health Day meeting on Global Perspectives on Suicide and Mental Health which took place in UN Headquarters in October under the auspices of the NGO Committee of Mental Health, and in cooperation with the World Health Organization. Opening remarks were made by the new Executive Director of the World Health Organization Office at the United Nations, New York , Assistant Director-General Andrey Pirogov. In addition to participating in the NGO Committees monthly meetings, WFMH UN representatives organize some of the Committees programs. In 2006 Richard Donahue was responsible for a program in April on Children Forced into Armed Conflict that examined the situation in northern Uganda . Nancy Wallace arranged a program on International Perspectives on Alternative Healing Practices in November. WFMH representatives currently have leadership roles in three of the NGO Committees five Working Groups. Ms. Wallace is Convenor of the Group on Trauma and Mental Health. Mr. Donahue is Co-Convenor of the Group on Children, Youth and Mental Health. Dr. Belkin is Co-Convenor of the Working Group on Human Rights. Dr. Belkin has been developing an initiative on social development and integration. In February, during the annual session of the UN Commission on Social Development, he was a speaker on a panel s ponsored by the Division for Social Policy and Development (UNDESA) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) titled Dialogue in the Social Integration Process: Building Peaceful Social Relations By, For and With People. He has been serving as the liaison between the NGO Committee and WHO for a Social Development/Mental Health project. In January, together with other NGO representatives, he participated in a UN Working Meeting on Mental Health and Social Development Integration with representatives of UNDESA and Dr. Benedetto Saraceno, the Director of WHOs Department of Mental Health & Substance Abuse. Gary Belkin is also the WFMH Representative to meetings of the NGO Committee on UNICEF. Prof. Haydee Montenegro represents WFMH on the CONGO NGO Committee on Narcotics and Substance Abuse. She also represented WFMH at meetings of the UN Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities. Other Events at the UN At the 23 rd Annual Social Work Day at the UN in April Nancy Wallace was the final speaker, summarizing the program on Human Rights Challenges: Poverty, Child Violence and Disaster Response. WFMH Secretary-General & CEO Preston J. Garrison was a panel member at the World Suicide Prevention Day Forum held on September 8, 2006 at United Nations Headquarters and organized jointly by WHO and the International Association for Suicide Prevention. Federation UN Representatives attended the 59 th Annual Department of Public Information conference for NGOs held at UN Headquarters in New York on 6-8 September 2006. UN Geneva and the World Health Organization In Geneva , WFMH representatives monitored developments at the World Health Organization and attended the meetings of the WHO Executive Board and the World Health Assembly. They also attended meetings at the UN Office in Geneva . During the year they took a particular interest in matters affecting human rights, and mental health issues of ageing. The sessions they attended included the following: – In February 2006, WFMH President Shona Sturgeon, Secretary-General & CEO Preston Garrison, and WFMH UN Geneva Main Representative Myrna Lachenal participated in the first WHO/NGO Workshop on Health Promotion, organized by the Advisory Group to the WHO Health Promotion Department. – UN Geneva meeting on Human Rights and Education (15 May 2006, chaired by Peter Prove) – UN Geneva, 9 th Annual Briefing, From Vision to Action NGOs Promoting Health in a Globalized World (24 May 2006, chaired by Dr. Beagelhole, Director, Chronic Diseases and Health Promotion, WHO) – UN Geneva, NGO Committee on Ageing, June meeting – WHO Geneva, meeting on Challenges of Ageing in a Foreign Land (10 October 2006, chaired by Dr. A. Kaleche, President, Geneva International Network on Ageing) – WHO Geneva, Special Session of the Executive Board (8 November 2006, designation of the new Director-General) – UN Geneva, NGO Committee on Ageing, November meeting -WFMH signed on to the World NGO Network on Alcohol and Public Health initiated by WHO. – WFMH signed a Joint Statement by NGOs on the mandate and work of the special rapporteur on freedom of religion and belief. – WFMH signed on to the NGO Joint Statement to the Fourth Special Session of the Human Rights Council relating to the action plan for Darfur and Sudan , 12 December 2006. WFMH Volunteer UN Representatives New York Nancy Wallace, L.M.S.W., Main Representative (also, DPI Main Representative) Ricki Kantrowitz, Ph.D. Richard Donahue, M.S.W. Haydee Montenegro , Ph.D. Gary Belkin, M.D. Geneva Myrna Lachenal, R.N., Main Representative Anne Yamada Stanislas Flache, M.D.