The Director for United Nations Affairs is WSPA's diplomatic arm working to convince governments, the United Nations, and other international organizations at the most senior levels to change practices and introduce new laws to protect or improve the welfare of animals.  He also works to promote animal welfare in development and humanitarian disaster relief operations worldwide.

The Director works with organizations like the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), UNESCO, UN Development Program (UNDP), ECOSOC, the UN Department of Public Information (DPI), the Secretary General's Special Envoy on Tsunami Reconstruction, the International Strategy on Disaster Reduction (ISDR) and other international organizations, governments, and industry and private voluntary bodies to show that good animal welfare is required to achieve international goals such as the eradication of poverty, hunger and disease.

The United Nations Affairs Director, Larry Roeder, is a retired American diplomat who builds critical links with key decision makers at the UN and other international bodies, as well as humanitarian NGOs, in order to establish WSPA as the first point of contact and global coordinator of animal welfare disaster relief worldwide.  

He advances UDAW (Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare) and designs WSPA's strategic approach to disaster management within the context of the United Nations and represents WSPA at international disaster relief conferences in order to put across animal welfare as an integral component of humanitarian disaster relief operations and sustainable development. 

Mr. Roeder is co-chair of the International Working Group on Animals in Disasters.  Read their new comprehensive report, Protecting Animals from Disasters >> (PDF)

Larry Roeder
United Nations Affairs Director
Phone:  703-327-0057
Fax: 703-327-0058
lroeder@wspausa.org

Important UN-related memberships and associations
 
These associations, none of which have an animal-welfare agenda, enable the animal welfare community to speak directly to United Nations policy makers and government officials.

• UN Department of Public Information (DPI) (New York)
• Economic and Social Council of the UN (ECOSOC) (New York)
• American Council for International Voluntary Action (Interaction) (Washington, DC)
• Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations CONGO (Geneva)
• International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA)(Geneva)
• US Agenda for International Development (USAID) (Washington, DC)
• UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)(Geneva), via an exchange of letters.
• UN IASC Cluster Working Group on Early Recovery
• United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP)

WSPA is engaged in a global campaign to encourage the United Nations to adopt a Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare.  To read more about this important campaign and to sign the petition urging governments to support the Declaration, please visit our special website at www.animalsmatterusa.org