Nita Barrow (Co-Chair)

Co-Chair Dame Nita Barrow is Governor-General of Barbados and the former Representative of the Government of Barbados to the United Nations. She is an outspoken and articulate foe of social injustice and a strong advocate of the role of the UN in protecting human rights. Dame Nita Barrow began her career in the nursing profession and continues her commitment to the field of health care as a consultant to the World Health Organization. She is considered one of the world's leading authorities on public health and health education. She has served as President of the World YWCA, President of the International Council for Adult Education and one of seven Presidents of the World Council of Churches. Dame Nita Barrow has brought to all these efforts her remarkable skill as a parliamentarian.

Dame Nita Barrow often reiterates her commitment to the UN. She is convinced, however, that unless the principles and priorities of the UN are reflected at every level of every society, the organization will be nothing more than a united governments organization whose focus and performance will, inevitably, be irrelevant to the needs and aspirations of humankind. She proposes a closer collaboration between government, non-governmental organizations and the UN and favors adjustments in the UN that allow a greater role by the smaller and less powerful states.

"It is now left to us in today's United Nations to extend the perspective of the founding fathers to those concerns which their time and their vision did not permit...It is not sufficient for us to be able to speak each other's language or visit each other's capitals. It is far more crucial to understand how we think and why. A clear understanding of every culture's pressures, its history and the way its people view themselves and the world is essential to the maintenance of peace...Every conflict has its deepest roots in a a people's view of themselves and of their neighbors."