Area: York, North Yorkshire
York may be better known for it's famous minster and railway links, but it also connects to the global work of the UN.
Here are some of the links that the city of York has to the UN.
- York has a culture of hospitality toward refugees and those seeking sanctuary from war and persecution. For example local newspaper, The Press, highlights how Hugh Bayley, MP for York Central, visited refugee camps on the Jordan/ Turkey border and supports Bootham School's campaign in support of refugee children from Syria. York University's Derwent College, held their first refugee week, raising awareness about refugee status.
- Prof Sultan Barakat, from York University, has worked as a senior advisor to UN, while the Stockholm Environment Institute, in York, prepared an important environmental report for the UN Environmental Project, in 2009.
- Philanthropist and human rights advocate, Joseph Rowntree, was born in York and attended Bootham School. Rowntree of York (later becoming Nestle & home of the KitKat) have a passionate history of campaigning for social justice, reform, peace and helping victims of hostilities – at home, in York and across the globe.