NGO/556
12 January 2005

NGO Committee Recommends Seven Organizations for Consultative Status with Economic and Social Council; Defers 19 Applications

Takes Note of Quadrennial Report of One NGO, Defers Action on Five Others

NEW YORK, 11 January (UN Headquarters) -- The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations today recommended consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) for seven non-governmental organizations and postponed decisions on the applications of 19 others. It also took note of the quadrennial report of one organization and deferred action on those of five others.

In recommending general, special or roster consultative status with the Council, the 19-member Committee uses various criteria, including the applying organization’s mandate, governance and financial regime. NGOs enjoying general and special consultative status can attend Council meetings and circulate statements of a certain length. Those with general status can, in addition, speak at meetings and propose items for the Council’s agenda, while organizations that have roster status can only attend meetings.

NGOs with general and special consultative status must submit a report to the Council every four years. The Committee can request a special report in certain instances, such as following a complaint by a Member State about an organization’s behaviour during a meeting of a United Nations body to which it has been accredited.

Acting on the applications, the Committee recommended roster consultative status for:

-- the Colegio de Abogados Especialistas en Derecho Ambiental de Colombia, a Bogota-based national NGO whose purpose is to study and implement national and international environmental law, and to promote public- and private-sector participation in environmental discussion in order to protect the environment and the planet’s natural resources;

-- the New Delhi-based Evangelical Fellowship of India Commission on Relief, a national organization that seeks to form a network of community-based action groups that would be trained to develop and communicate a biblical perspective on social issues;

-- the International Steering Committee for Global Mapping, based in Japan, which aims primarily to examine measures that concerned national regional and international organizations can take to facilitate the coordination and development of global mapping;

-- the Los Angeles-based Labor Community Strategy Center, a national organization that intends to build a democratic internationalist social movement for environmental, economic and social justice;

-- Tearfund, the United Kingdom’s sixth largest national relief and development agency, whose main aim is to tackle the causes and effects of poverty and to carry out disaster management work; and

-- Agir en faveur de l’environnement, a national organization based in Mauritania, whose aim is to provide a legal framework for activities in support of nomadic and urban groups in the fields of environmental protection, agricultural development, school enrolment, especially for girls, poverty reduction and health care.

Turning to a list of deferred applications that had not been taken up during the present session, the Committee recommended that the Economic and Social Council grant special consultative status to the Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (see document E/C.2/2002/R.2/Add.10 (S) (N) for details).

It then deferred decisions on the applications of: the Human Rights International Alliance; Kashmiri American Council; Le Foyer Musulman Association internationale pour les droits de l’homme; Mountain Women Development Organization; American Conservative Union; Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative; World Sindhi Institute; World Council of Muslim Communities, Inc.; Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development; Indian Federation of United Nations Associations; NIRDHAR –- Women and Child Development Organisation; Society for the Promotion of Youth and Masses; Pasumai Thaayagam Foundation (Green Motherland); Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH); Catholic Organization for Relief and Development Aid (CORDAID); Action contre la faim; Vali-Asr Rehabilitation Institute (VRI); Angel Foundation; Social Action Forum for Manav Adhikar (SAFMA); and New Millennium Peace Foundation. Decisions on those applications were deferred pending receipt of their replies to delegations’ questions or their responses to requests for further information.

The Committee deferred consideration of the quadrennial reports submitted by the following NGOs: the Centrist Democrat International; Transnational Radical Party; International Press Institute; Islamic Relief; International Association for Religious Freedom; and the International Trustee Fund of the Tsyolkovsky Moscow State Aviation Technological University.

Prior to the meeting’s adjournment, the Committee heard from Marco Perduca, Chair of the Transitional Radical Party, who took the podium to respond to questions from the representatives of the Russian Federation, China, Germany, Cuba, France and Romania.

Members of the Committee are Cameroon, Chile, China, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, France, Germany, India, Iran, Peru, Pakistan, Romania, Russian Federation, Senegal, Sudan, Turkey, United States and Zimbabwe.

The Committee is expected to meet again at 10 a.m. Wednesday, 12 January.

* *** *