Acting Globally

The United Nations (UN) is an international organization founded in 1945. It currently has 193 Member States. The UN is guided by the purposes and principles contained in its founding Charter. 

The International Sociological Association (ISA), founded in 1949 under the auspices of UNESCO, is a non-profit association for scientific purposes. It is associated as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) with the UN Department of Global Communications and has NGO consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). 

ISA Representatives to the United Nations are appointed by the ISA Executive Committee.

ISA Representatives at the United Nations for 2018-2023:
Two Senior Representatives:
- Rosemary Barberet, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY, USA
- Jan Marie Fritz, University of Cincinnati, USA, and University of Johannesburg, South Africa
Three Youth Representatives: 
- Ragi Bashonga, University of Johannesburg, South Africa (until 2022)
- Sebastián Galleguillos Agurto, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY, USA
- 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.

ISA UN Representatives strive to connect the ISA to the work of the United Nations as well as connect the work of the United Nations to the research, teaching, and advocacy work of sociologists worldwide. In this section of the ISA website, we will post the schedule of selected UN meetings, newsletter information for different UN divisions, as well as reports and publications of interest to ISA members. We encourage all ISA members in addition to their Research Committees, National Associations, Working Groups and Thematic Groups to be active at the United Nations. 

We welcome your contributions to this section of the ISA website. Please contact Rosemary Barberet rbarberet@jjay.cuny.edu or Jan Marie Fritz jan.fritz@uc.edu regarding questions or comments about UN participation. Please contact Dimitra Laurence Larochelle larochelle.laurence@gmail.com or Sebastián Galleguillos Agurto sgalleguillos@jjay.cuny.edu regarding items you would like posted as part of the ISA-United Nations section.