Groups

Anyone interested in helping support the work of the United Nations Association and promoting UN values here in the UK is welcome to join UNA-UK.  If you live or work in – or have links with – the London and South East Region, you can also join those groups from the list below that are most convenient for you or that most interest you.

If you wish to get involved with a local or interest group you need to apply separately to the contacts given in thelist below, as memberships of local groups are organised independently of membership of UNA LASER and of UNA-UK.

General ideas for groups can be found here. We also share here descriptions of inspirational activities from some individual groups:

The latest Public Insurance Certificate is  here. Groups that would like further support should contact us.

Grants to support groups’ awareness-raising activities are available from the London UNA Trust.

Interest UNA Groups that belong to London and South-East Region are:

UNA Climate and Oceans. Contact: Gonzalo Alvarez (Chair), unaukhandb@gmail.com. See www.una-climateandoceans.org

UNA Language Group This group is  dedicated to supporting and facilitating the meaningful engagement of youth across UN intergovernmental processes. This is achieved through providing capacity building for young people and technical language support to ensure youth voices are centred. The Group’s primary focuses are on intergovernmental processes related to human rights, gender equality, and the Summit of the Future. Everyone is welcome to join the UNA-Language Group. Please contact unalanguagegroup@gmail.com for more information.

Local groups that belong to London and South East Region are:

Bexhill and Hastings. Contact: Barbara Echlin, bjechlin@btinternet.com
How infinitesimal is anything we can do! How infinitely important it is that we should do it! For several decades the Bexhill and Hastings UNA Group has been working locally to help turn the ideals of the United Nations into reality. We support the work of the UN and its agencies, whilst also recognising the need for reform to strengthen its credibility and effectiveness. You can see more of our activities on our UNA-UK Branch Facebook.

Blackheath and Greenwich. Contact: Neville Grant, neville.grant@gmail.com, 020 8858 8489 or contact@unalaser.org.
Blackheath and Greenwich Group has a strong history of running speaker events and of working with the local refugee communities. The Branch is currently looking for new committee members.  

Canterbury. Contact: Chair: Valeria Minisini; Treasurer: Bala Chandramohan; Secretary: Eleanor Brooks unacanterburysecretary@gmail.com
We work with many other city organisations through the Canterbury SDG Forum (Sustainable Development Goals), focusing on climate and environmental action, poverty, sustainable transport, education and women and girls equality. Our corporate members include the Soroptomists and also the Quakers, who allow us to use their meeting house for many of our meetings. We hold a flag raising event for UN day with local dignitaries and our other main events are a strawberry tea and an annual peace service in the cathedral. Every year we host speakers on a wide range of issues, often linked to UN focuses. We welcome new members and hold an open planning event each year in January to engage members. We have recently introduced zoom video-conferencing for our meetings, which has allowed flexibility for members and a wider audience for key speakers. Thus, for the time being our meetings will continue in a hybrid face-to-face and video format.

Dartford and District. Contact: Barbara Judge, 01322 27127.
We welcome any new members in our area, to help us promote the work of the United Nations. Our volunteer-run group supports the work of UNA-UK by organising a diverse range of grass-roots activities. Ranging from speaker and fundraising events to film screenings and coffee mornings, these activities raise awareness and interest in the work of the United Nations at a local level across the country. We welcome any new members in our area, to help us promote the work of the United Nations. Our Branch produces a newsletter four times a year.

Deal. Contact: Pam Brivio, pambrivio@ntlworld.com, 07772 471905 or 01304 225078.
UNA Deal usually hosts three or four events a year, including an annual fundraiser, Hiroshima Day event, public meeting, film showing. Our events often attract local media coverage. We try to take part in the United Nations Service for World Peace, held annually in Canterbury. A recent event, which I would urge other branches to consider, was a showing of The Calais Children – a case to answer,  about what happened to the children left behind when the Jungle was cleared.

Eastbourne. Contact: Ian Elgie, ianelgie@hotmail.com, 07704 178011.
Our group has a small active membership and a healthy list of local supporters who are prepared to attend meetings, as well as local businesses who support our projects. Our local programme usually consists of talks with invited speakers on a range of environmental and human rights issues. Attendances vary between 25 and 40 on average. All meetings are open to the public and are held usually in the Town Hall, Eastbourne. Human Rights Day is celebrated each year in the town centre which gives our branch the opportunity of publicising our presence in the community. Our group is especially active in environmental work, planting tree species exceptional for their carbon capture efficiency. We are working with partners in Uganda, and since March 2022 also in Bangladesh. See our website for details of our projects and how to give your support.

Enfield and the Barnets. Contact Bill Linton, bill.linton@myphone.coop 020 3105 1892.
Enfield & The Barnets UNA  had, pre-Covid, and hope to have again, an annual collaboration with Middlesex University putting on a Model Security Council for a group of their students. It has always been very popular, with many reporting it as the highlight of their year. We run a book group, discussing serious non-fiction with an international dimension; and we meet twice a month (currently on zoom) for coffee and to talk about UNA affairs – or just chat.

Harpenden. Contact Suheil Shahryar, herts77@btinternet.com & una.harpenden@gmail.com
UNA Harpenden was formed in 1947, as a successor to the League of Nations Union which had a branch in Harpenden since 1922. Today, UNA Harpenden is a group consisting of over 100 members and supporters covering not only Harpenden but also St Albans city and Wheathampstead. Its activities include holding monthly public meetings, usually in a local hall on Saturday mornings with 30-50 people, on a wide variety of topics relevant to the UN. The current Chair is Suheil Shahryar. The Harpenden United Nations Association is a local branch of UNA-UK whose objectives are to promote support for the principles and practices of the UN.  We hold regular public meetings in Harpenden on topics of interest to our members and supporters. We support the aims of UNA-UK by:

  • Organising public meetings to inform people about the work of the UN and related issues of international affairs
  • Supporting activities in local schools which inform pupils about the work of the UN
  • Fundraising to support organisations that are working to promote the aims of the UN
  • Urging the government to support the UN and to support reform of the UN in order to improve its effectiveness
  • Encouraging members to support UN and UNA campaigns
  • Encouraging good relations between people of different nationality

Luton. Contact: Dr Nazia Khanum OBE DL (Chair) or Dr David Cheesman (Secretary), info@una-luton.uk.
UNA Luton promotes equality, justice, peace, human rights & community cohesion.Luton is one of the most diverse towns in the UK, with a wide range of ethnicities, religions and cultures. Its people have links to almost every country in the world. Whenever events happen overseas, somebody in Luton is directly affected, and is well informed about the key issues. Like some other British towns Luton also faces socioeconomic challenges in a number of areas including health, housing, education and employment. UNA Luton contributes to the UN’s and UNA-UK’s goals by drawing on the wealth of Luton’s human resources, learning from experience in Britain and overseas and acting both locally and globally. We work with a wide variety of voluntary and statutory agencies including the local authority and the University of Bedfordshire and raise awareness widely to trigger activism for achieving a just, fair, healthier, safer, more equal and peaceful society. Join us to take forward the principles of democratic values and sustainable development goals of the UN and make a difference to our society and the world.

Merton. Contact: Alison Williams,  alisonwilliams36@btinternet.com, 020 8944 0574.
We have meetings and workshops on UN-related events and developments. In recent years, we have had sessions on the UN Charter and UN Reform; on aspects of Security (Human Security, Sustainable Security, Nuclear and General Disarmament); on aspects of Development (the Millennium Development Goals, the Millennium Villages, the UN Global Compact), on the Environment (Sustainable Development, Biodiversity, Climate Change) and on Human Rights – relevant to every issue.We fundraise for UN-related causes including UNICEF, Refugees, and victims of man-made and natural disasters. Our chief fund-raising event is a Car Boot Sale in the summer at St Mary’s Field, Arthur Road, when the church make the field available.We lobby for political action to support the aims of the UN Charter (peace, justice and democratic governance for all). We co-sponsor a weekly Peace Vigil beside Wimbledon Library from 6:00-7:00 pm on Fridays.

Streatham and Clapham. Contact: Sarah Webster, webster.home@btinternet.com, 020 8769 5095,  una.streathamandclapham@btinternet.com  & https://unastreatham.wordpress.com
Our Group, located at the edge of Inner London, has a very diverse following. In the past this given us an interesting range of international issues that people have been concerned about and has led to us holding talks and activities relating to many places around the world. We have had talks on many issues including the role of women, as well as UNHCR and hearing from Martin Barber about working for the UN in the areas of humanitarian affairs and peace operations. We try to be inclusive so as well as organizing talks we organize other activities; this included a celebratory lunch when we won the Stevens trophy, a Hunger Lunch, a trip on the Thames to see 3 out of 4 UNESCO heritage sites in London and also Winter Socials. The Branch has also campaigned on Indigenous People for the 10th anniversary of the Declaration on Indigenous People, Yemen and ahead of the Climate Change Conferences COP26 in Glasgow, COP27 in Egypt, and COP28 in UAE. Do join us. Everyone is welcome.

Sutton and Croydon. Contact: Jas Weir, jas.weir@blueyonder.co.uk, 020 86472462.

Tunbridge Wells and Wealden. Contact Julia Jarrold (Secretary), juliajarrold5@gmail.com or Jane Beeley (Chair) jbeeley21@outlook.com

Twickenham and Richmond. Contacts: Hilary Evans, hilarymevans@btinternet.com  Denis Wilmot, dehwilmot@gmail.com
Members of UNA Twickenham & Richmond (TRUNA) are interested in the whole spectrum of UN concerns, with a current focus on:
– The Middle East
– Refugees
– Climate change
– Peace and conflict (from conflict prevention to arms control and nuclear weapons).
While TRUNA does not normally campaign on these issues as a UN Association, individual members are often active in such campaigns. TRUNA also publicises the meetings of its nearest UNA-UK neighbour, UNA Wandsworth. TRUNA has for some time held meetings about three-four times a year at the Adelaide Pub in Teddington, but this pattern is changing. The best source of information is the TRUNA Newsletter and the TRUNA entry on the UNA-UK website: https://www.una.org.uk/branch/una-twickenham-and-richmond

Wandsworth. Contact: Rob Storey  storeyrw@aol.com, 020 3072 0087 or 07776 356334; Meena Storey (Secretary), 020 3072 0087.
UNA has three public meetings each year, planning meetings, an annual religious service, summer and winter socials. We advertise our meetings locally by way of emails, the LASER Newsletter, Pulse, the UNA website, our local SW15 website, friends and flyers. Details regarding Wandsworth UNA activities can also be found at https://www.una.org.uk/branch/una-wandswort

Westminster. Contact: David Wardrop, info@unawestminster.org.uk, 0207 385 6738; secretary@unawestminster.org.uk
Westminster UNA flagship events include the annual RUSI Peacekeeping Conference and our Cenotaph ceremony to mark the International Day of UN Peacekeepers; the International Law Lecture; and We the Peoples Film Festival.  Latterly, and after many years of pushing, we have succeeded in re-naming the area outside Central Hall Westminster (the first meeting place of the UN General Assembly in 1946) to be called ‘UN Green’ http://www.unitednationsgreen.uk/. We also have a Young Professionals group: details on our Westminster website, which includes all of our projects.

 

We also have the following university and Model UN groups:-

BPP University UNA, Contact: Sartaj Haque, bppuna@live.com

Brunel Model UN Society, Contact: Gupta Vedant, brunelunitednations@gmail.com

Imperial College MUN, Contact: Nil Bozkurt, model.un@imperial.ac.uk

Kent Model UN Society, Contact: Justin Koelman, committee@munkent.com, secgen@kentmun.org

King’s College London, Contact: Hong Chong Wen, kingsmun@gmail.com, kclunitednationsassociation@gmail.com

London Metropolitan Model UN, Contact: Natasha Vale, londonmetmun@gmail.com

London School of Economics UN, Contact: Lina Jeffcock, lina@jeffcock.org,  unsoc@lsesu.org

Queen Mary University Model UN, Contact: Evangelos Halatsis, una.qmul@gmail.com

Regent’s University Model UN, Contact: K Fanning, fanningk@regents.ac.uk

SOAS UN Association, Contact: Siti Najiihan Fikri, munsoas@gmail.com, un.soc@soas.ac.uk

University College London Model UN, Contact: uczxmun@ucl.ac.uk

University of Greenwich Model UN, Contact: Habib Diouga, dhconstant@aol.co.uk, mungreenwich@gmail.com

Westminster Model UN, Contact: Nicole El-Halou, westmun@su.westminster.ac.uk, westmun.soc@su.westminster.ac.uk

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