Renate Bloem

Renate D. Bloem has been the president of Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations (CONGO) since Nov. 2000. She has been active lobbying on various issues at the United Nations, and since her accession to the presidency of CONGO:

"Since she embarked on this ambitious mandate, Renate has provided invaluable counsel and guidance to CONGO membership and staff, contributing to her organization's development. Under her strong leadership, CONGO has gained prominence in the international civil society landscape and became the main counterpart of NGOs in relationship with the United Nations." CONGO biography

Photo

Activities

UN Conference on Anti-racism in Durban, South Africa, Sept 2000.

Renate Bloem led a 10-member CONGO delegation (including Willy Weisz, Isaac Tylim, Harvey Rich) to the UN Conference on Anti-racism in Durban. (The delegation was paid/sponsored by the Ford Foundation.) Some of the members of this delegation, led by Willy Weisz, spearheaded attempts to undermine the adoption of a declaration that "Zionism is Racism", and instead proposed an amendment stating "Anti-zionism is anti-semitism". While John Bolton led the official U.S. assault against the declaration (an effort that eventually earned him the "Defender of Zionism Award" in 2006), the groups surrounding CONGO were instrumental in providing the NGO opposition to the declaration.

Affiliations

• CONGO – President (since Nov. 2000)
• World Federation of Methodist and Uniting Church Women

Contact

Renate Bloem

President of the Conference of NGOs (CONGO)

11, Avenue de la Paix

CH-1202 Geneva

Tel: +41 22 301 1000

Fax: +41 22 301 2000

Email: rbloem@ngocongo.org

Website: www.ngocongo.org