Sister Joan Burke - United Nations

In 2007, with Sister Joan Burke’s assistance, Sister Marleny Bardales (center, left) and her student, Vanessa de los Milagros Juarez Arevalo (center, right), from Peru, came to the United Nations, where Vanessa spoke to the Commission on the Status of Women.

The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur are accredited to the United Nations as a NGO (non-governmental organization) “in Special Consultative Status with the UN Economic and Social Council” as well as affiliated as an Associate of the UN Department of Public Information.  Sister Joan, who served for almost 20 years in different parts of Africa, is the Congregation's permanent representative at the UN Headquarters in New York.

Sr. Joan works on a number of issues and NGO Committees representing the concerns of Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and the peoples they serve around the globe, including: poverty eradication; access of persons living in poverty to education, health and basic amenities; HIV/AIDS; development; financing for development (e.g., debt, trade, development assistance, international financial institutions and their policies); women and children.

Millennium Development Goals


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