Pio Manzù Centre

The Centre declares its support for the maintenance of international peace and security, and, in all of its initiatives, encourages respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Its total sharing of the spirit and objectives of the United Nations Charter was immediately noted and appreciated by the UN, which recognised the activities of the Pio Manzù Centre as making a useful contribution to the efforts of the UN, particularly with regard to matters falling within the sphere of competence of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
It was in the course of numerous fruitful contacts between the Centre and the UN Office in Rome, and particularly with its Director, Dr. Edwin K. Baumgarten, that the idea of a closer and more concrete working relationship between the Centre and the UN began to mature.
In 1972 the United Nations granted the Pio Manzù Centre its first official recognition with its inclusion in the ECOSOC roster of organisations with consultative status. In the following years the Pio Manzù Centre intensified its efforts in the context of international cooperation on behalf of development and in 1986 was granted consultative status with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO).
The granting of consultative status enabled the Pio Manzù Centre to gain access to UN documentation and to send its representatives to attend the meetings of the various UN organs.
By the same token, the annual Pio Manzù International Conference became an event of growing interest for the United Nations who, in turn, regularly sent their own representative to the Conference to bring the annual message of the UN and pick up the invaluable stimuli and reflections emerging during the proceedings on the various themes addressed.
The representative character and acknowledged international importance of the organisation and its public initiatives prompted UN Secretary General Perez De Cuellar to attend the Rimini Conference in person in 1992.
Over the decades, the Pio Manzù Centre substantially increased its research interests and came to be involved in a vast range of activities in various areas of the world. Its work became broadly representative of the main segments of society in many regions of the world, with particular reference to the least developed countries.
In the course of time, the Pio Manzù Centre’s ability to contribute to the work of the United Nations, whose goals it profoundly shares, has progressively become more intense and high-profile. Stemming from the Centre’s initial commitment to the promotion of global peace and security is its more specific interest now in helping to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. In particular, the Pio Manzù Centre is now orienting its work in support of a number of these goals, enhancing, as far as possible, public awareness of the need for joint, urgent action to “eradicate extreme poverty and hunger”, “promote gender equality and empower women”, “ensure environmental sustainability” and “develop a global partnership for development”.
In 2005 the Pio Manzù Centre applied to the United Nations for reclassification from roster to general consultative status, a request which has been fully endorsed by the UN Economic and Social Council and supported by all the members of the UN Examining Commission with expressions of wholehearted appreciation of the Centre’s work and record.