Town hall meeting with UN Secretary-General António Guterres and Civil Society on the margins of CSW62. Held in the ECOSOC chamber at UN Headquarters on 13 March 2018. Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown
The Committee on NGOs – which determines which NGOs can or cannot participate in UN meetings – will face elections in April 2026. Join ISHR’s campaign to ensure States nominate and vote for candidates who will defend civil society’s access to and participation in the UN!
Imagine a world where the voices of those with clear demands, expertise and solutions come together to fulfil the promise of the UN Charter. In that world, States would welcome the essential contribution of NGOs and respect their right to participate in UN processes. We are currently far off from that dream. The door to civil society is frequently closed, isolating UN spaces from key civil society expertise which is instrumental in tackling global challenges.
We can change this: the upcoming elections to the Committee on NGOs offers an important opportunity!
NGOs seeking to engage with and participate in the UN – by making statements at meetings, providing recommendations to bring about change and organising events––must obtain ‘ECOSOC consultative status’. The Committee on Non-Governmental Organisations (Committee on NGOs) – a standing committee of the UN Economic and Social Council (‘ECOSOC’) – manages this process, acting as the gatekeeper for NGOs seeking access to the UN.
For States intending to block NGOs from participating in the UN, membership of the Committee confers on them the power to block NGO access to the UN. Members of the Committee can prevent NGOs from securing accreditation by asking burdensome and unreasonable questions to NGO applicants.
The Committee meets biannually (typically in January and May) to consider accreditation applications of NGOs. It is composed of 19 States representing all regional groups. Its members are elected every four years by the 54 members of the ECOSOC. The next round of elections will take place in April 2026.
Though some are anticipated and others not yet finalised, the current candidates for the NGO Committee are:
Our objective is to ensure that civil society can access to and participate fully in the UN. For this to happen smoothly, without obstruction, NGOs must be granted ECOSOC status. Obtaining such status is impossible when the Committee on NGOs is composed of members who hold abysmal records of suppressing civil society at the international and national levels. To overcome this, we need:
First, we are working with partners globally to remind States of the essential role of civil society in the multilateral system: roles of witness, expert, and monitor, ensuring that the system is held to account.
Secondly, we are reaching out to States at the national and international levels to encourage them to stand as candidates and to vote for candidates that support civil society access to and participation in the UN.
Finally, we are publishing scorecards to spread awareness on the track record of candidates running in the upcoming election as regards supporting civil society participation in their countries and at the UN.
If you are an NGO representative, you can engage with States on all the campaign objectives!
We’re aware that in attempting to engage with UN processes, civil society members can face reprisals. If you are concerned about intimidation and reprisals for cooperating with the UN, please check our Handbook on Reprisals for human rights defenders.
Though some are anticipated and others not yet finalised, the current candidates for the NGO Committee are:
The Committee on NGOs oversees the implementation of ECOSOC resolution 1996/31, which is the legal framework governing civil society participation in the work of the UN. The Committee is tasked with considering the applications of NGOs for consultative status with the UN, and makes recommendations to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC, which can accept or overturn a decision.
Consultative status provides NGOs with access to a range of UN fora, including the Human Rights Council, ECOSOC and its subsidiary bodies, UN conferences, and events organised by the President of the General Assembly.
The International Service for Human Rights has been engaged in work on ensuring the effective functioning Committee on NGOs for over 10 years and supporting NGOs to participate in the UN.
ISHR works to facilitate the accreditation of human rights NGOs, in particular those dealing with sexual orientation and gender identity, women’s rights, reproductive rights, minority issues, and freedom of expression and association.
ISHR runs campaigns advocating for improvement in the functioning and membership of the Committee and for the accountability of its members to the principles of the UN Charter and ECOSOC Resolution 1996/31. We also provide strategic advice and support to NGOs seeking accreditation by the Committee on NGOs, and to NGOs subject to disciplinary sanctions by the Committee.
In 2021/2022, ISHR launched a campaign geared towards ensuring that States supportive of civil society access and participation were voted on to the NGO Committee. The campaign contributed to Russia, a member of the Committee since its creation in 1947, being voted out. Russia was part of the Eastern European States group, the only regional group that presented a competitive slate with three candidates running for two available seats.
Check out our selection of reports and news on the UN Committee for NGOs.
The ECOSOC Committee on NGOs concluded its 2025 resumed session amidst serious threats to effective civil society engagement at the UN. The call for concrete progress continues to grow.
In a report launched today, ISHR examines China’s efforts to restrict access for independent civil society actors and human rights defenders to UN human rights bodies. The report provides an analysis of China’s membership of the UN Committee on NGOs, the growing presence of Chinese Government-Organised NGOs (GONGOs), and patterns of intimidation and reprisals by the Chinese government.
The ECOSOC Committee on NGOs concluded its 2025 regular session today reiterating the need for reform to improve its working methods to enable effective civil society engagement at the UN.
In this 2024 resumed session of the ECOSOC Committee on NGOs (‘Committee’), a reform decision led by members the United Kingdom (‘UK’) and Costa Rica was weakened amidst ongoing politicisation by members as well as the UN’s inability to support the Committee to fulfil its mandate.
As the ECOSOC Committee on NGOs faces severe challenges in fulfiling its mandate on civil society participation at the UN, Costa Rica and the UK propose a draft ECOSOC decision to reform the Committee's working methods.
The UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) voted in its Management Segment meeting to grant consultative status to seven NGOs that had been deferred for several years by the ECOSOC Committee on NGOs.
