Over 200 NGOs with consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council provide strong recommendations to enhance access and participation of NGOs with the UN.
A vote by States at the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) has granted consultative status to nine civil society organisations that had previously been arbitrarily deferred by the UN Committee on NGOs. The vote ends a record 15 years of deferral for one of the candidates.
On Wednesday 7 December, ECOSOC Member States will be asked to vote on the accreditation of 9 NGOs that have been arbitrarily blocked from UN participation, including one that has been blocked for 15 years - the longest in the history of the institution.
In the last session of the current term of the NGO Committee, States continue to express concern over excessive politicisation of the Committee while some NGOs continue to be deferred for over a decade through arbitrary questions.
This week ECOSOC members could break years of deadlock for civil society participation at the UN through a vote that would give consultative status to six civil society groups.
The ECOSOC Committee on NGOs has adopted its report bringing the first session of 2022 to a close. The session saw heated exchanges around a vote to accredit 5 deferred NGOs a well as serious consequences of under-resourcing of the NGO Branch.
On Wednesday, 13 April, members of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) elected 19 members to the UN Committee on NGOs, a body frequently criticised for restricting civil society participation at the UN.
The elections to the Committee on NGOs are three weeks away. We now know the full list of 20 candidates for membership. They include some of the most egregious human rights violators on the planet. ECOSOC members should not give them their vote. It is also not too late for better candidates to stand.
Voices from around the world took to Twitter to join the conversation about why civil society is so important to the UN and to demand that the UN #OpenTheDoorToNGOs.
In April, elections will be held to the UN Committee on NGOs, a body mandated to accredit NGOs to the UN. 349 national, regional and international NGOs have called for States to take NGO participation seriously and vote accordingly.
