Internal Organization

The International Sociological Association, founded in 1949 under the auspices of UNESCO, is associated as an NGO with the UN Department of Global Communications (formerly the UN Department of Public Information - DPI) and has NGO consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). 

The ISA’s senior representatives for UN activities are appointed by the ISA President. Representatives for 2018-2023 are Jan Marie Fritz (a former ISA Vice-President and current ISA Executive Committee member) and Rosemary Barberet (former ISA Executive Committee member). 

The ISA also has youth representatives which are selected by the senior representatives via a public call for applications and confirmed by the ISA President. Currently, our youth representatives (2018-2023) are Ragi Bashonga (University of Johannesburg, South Africa), Sebastián Galleguillos Agurto (John Jay College of Criminal Justice/CUNY Graduate Center, City University of New York, USA), and Dimitra Laurence Larochelle (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, France). Both the senior and youth representatives represent the ISA by observing UN meetings, whether remotely or in person, organizing civil society side events at UN meetings, and promoting the discipline of sociology within the United Nations context. The ISA UN representatives submit an annual report to the ISA Executive Committee.

Acting Globally reflects the work of the ISA UN Representatives in connecting the ISA to the work of the United Nations as well as connecting the work of the United Nations to the research, teaching and advocacy work of sociologists worldwide. On this webpage we will post news items, announcements of upcoming events, and reports and publications of interest to ISA members. We encourage all ISA Research Committees, Working Groups and Thematic Groups to be active at the United Nations and welcome their contributions to this webpage as well. Please contact Rosemary Barberet, rbarberet@jjay.cuny.edu, or Jan Fritz, jan.fritz@uc.edu, with any items you wish to post.