2015, the year ahead + UN-GLOBE Mobility Proposals

Dear UN-GLOBE colleagues,
 
As 2015 begins, I hope that this will be another great year for equality in the UN system.
 
UN-GLOBE is committed to achieving more this year than was achieved last year, the highlight of which was the adoption of inclusive legal unions policies in an increasing number of UN organizations.
 
But much still remains to be done in 2015.
 
Pension rights still do not exist for many same-sex couples.
 
Mobility policies do not sufficiently factor in the levels of homophobia or transphobia that make it particularly difficult for LGBTI staff to go wherever the UN serves, especially for those with partners or families. 
 
At the same time, as I have said several times before, the UN system is not sufficiently inclusive of transgender and intersex staff; nor of staff with HIV/AIDS. 
 
We also have to ensure that the UN has inclusive adoption and surrogacy policies.
 
All of the above are our priority areas for 2015.
 
And we will stress that what we want is equality, fairness, and non-discrimination, not special rights.
 
I look forward to sharing with you the position papers that UN-GLOBE will draft in the months ahead, as well as the advocacy activities undertaken in the priority areas.
 
In fact, I can report progress already in one of our priority areas. For the past two months, UN-GLOBE has been working on concrete, actionable proposals on mobility that will be sent out in the coming days to the heads of all UN organizations. You can find the UN-GLOBE mobility proposals attached. 
 
This will be followed next month by the UN-GLOBE position paper on inclusive adoption and surrogacy policies.
 
We count on your support. Please let colleagues know that UN-GLOBE exists and that we are here for staff. Please continue to get in touch with us— a list of your representatives is available at www.unglobe.org/about-us/. And please also consider making your annual 2015 voluntary contribution to UN-GLOBE, which is $90 for Professional staff, and $45 for General Service and National staff. 
 
Your voluntary contributions will allow UN-GLOBE to be present at important meetings such as the ones held by the Staff Management Committee, bringing together human resources heads, and staff unions. Currently, this is not the case as UN-GLOBE cannot self-finance such attendance. 
 
Please contact us at ohrm_globe@un.org on how you can make your voluntary contribution. 
 
Wishing you all the best for 2015,
 
Sincerely,
Hyung Hak Nam (Alfonso)
President, UN-GLOBE