CIBJO President addresses UN meeting in New York

CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri spoke of the international jewellery sector’s and CIBJO’s commitment to assisting the United Nations in meeting its development goals. He was addressing the High Level Segment of the UN Economic and Social Council at the annual keynote gathering of the UN agency in New York.

Dr. Cavalieri was present as the head of the jewellery industry' only organisation with special consultative status with ECOSOC, which it had since 2006. CIBJO was also one of only a handful of NGOs with special consultative status invited to make a formal oral statement before the 2014 High Level Segment. Dr. Cavalieri was accompanied in New York by Corrado Facco, Executive Director of Italian trade fair organiser Fiera di Vicenza, which has been accredited by the United Nations to deliver UN recognised Corporate Social Responsibility programmes for the jewellery industry together with CIBJO, and Professor Alba Cappellieri, who heads the prestigious jewellery design department at Politecnico di Milano university.

Dr. Cavalieri reviewed CIBJO's efforts in promoting an industry-wide understanding that the industry should provide sustainable and social development opportunities in countries and regions where its stakeholders reside. Referring to CIBJO’s efforts in promoting the UN Development Agenda and the Millennium Development Goals he said that for 10 years CIBJO and its membership have integrated the MDGs into activities and programs of each annual Congress, “but we have also launched a concrete campaign of awareness, education and training, in order to insert the MDGs in the daily operations of our members throughout the world, " he added. Also, CIBJO's supply chain integrity initiative with the Branded Trust Foundation is structured to ensure that all major UN treaties, conventions and principles covering good governance and the Millennium Development Goals have been integrated into the CSR program. CIBJO has entered in various partnership agreements with major organisations to support the MDGs and to ensure compliance with the UN human rights, civil rights, labour rights and gender rights.

During their meeting in New York, the CIBJO delegation met and were hosted by a number of senior UN and ECOSOC officials, with whom they discussed a "Jewelry for Peace" project.