UNANIMA International

Background

UNANIMA International was created from the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) in 2000, when the group’s founder Catherine Ferguson invited any interested religious congregations to form a coalition to advocate at the United Nations on behalf of women and children. In December 2001 six women’s religious congregations came together to help form the initial group. The UNANIMA International combines “UN” to represent the United Nations and the “ANIMA” is from the Latin word for “spirit” or “life principle.” According to its website, its three priority areas include low-income women and children, immigrants and refugees, and environmental issues. ⁴

UNANIMA International was established as a non-profit organization incorporated in New York in 2002. By the fall of 2004, UI had been accepted for UN Department of Public Information Status, and in 2005, had received special consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The group’s status as a UN accredited observer organization comprises most of the group’s activity and allows the group to make oral and written statements at UN meetings, lobby delegations, and make recommendations on UN declarations as they are being negotiated. ^{3 4}

As of 2025,  UI represents between 23 and 25 Congregations, comprising 25,000 people in 100 countries. Congregations within the organization include SUSC International Marist Sisters, Sisters of Notre Dame, Congregation of Sisters of St Agnes, and Society of the Holy Child Jesus. ³

Much of the organization’s UN engagement involves pushing for UN treaties and organizations to be “gender responsive” and prioritize women and children. ⁵

Environmentalist Activism

UNANIMA was a cosigner on an April 2021 letter to then-President Joe Biden which requested his administration promote weather-dependent wind and solar power systems as well as “end the fossil fuel era.” The letter also advised the president to “Phase out nuclear energy as an inherently dirty, dangerous and costly energy source.” ²