Mercy Global Action

Mercy Global Action at the UN is a project of the worldwide Sisters of Mercy at the United Nations in New York.

The Sisters of Mercy set up an office at the United Nations in New York in 1998 in order to bring the spirit of Catherine Mc Auley to the one forum in the world where all nations have the potential to meet as equals. Mercy Global Action at the UN is the mechanism by which all those associated with the Sisters of Mercy may interact with the UN system.

At the UN we use the tool of advocacy to work on behalf of poor people and work with other major international bodies. In line with what Catherine Mc Auley did in her day, we try to raise awareness of critical issues among membership and work collaboratively to challenge all to move beyond our comfort zones to make a real difference.

When we use the word advocacy we mean that we get involved in a political process consisting of actions designed to transform popular interests into rights; a process aimed at influencing decisions regarding policies and laws at national and international levels. An action is taken to draw a community’s attention to an issue and to direct policy-makers to a solution.

Why do we use the word global in our name? We do this because as Sisters of Mercy who work in 44 countries, we believe that we live and work in the community of life called the Global Village. We do what we do because we believe passionately in Human Rights for all.