ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL CONTINUES ELECTIONS TO VARIOUS BODIES
Press Release
ECOSOC/5638
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL CONTINUES ELECTIONS TO VARIOUS BODIES
19960502 The Economic and Social Council held elections this afternoon to fill seats on six bodies as it continued its resumed organizational session. The matter of accreditation of three non-governmental organizations -- the "Taiwan International Alliance", the "Canada Tibet Committee", and the "Tibetan Rights Campaign" to the forthcoming second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) -- was also briefly considered.The Council elected, by acclamation, the following States to the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice: Austria, Bolivia, Colombia, Fiji, Jamaica, Japan, Netherlands, Pakistan, Philippines and Sweden. Elected by secret ballot were the Russian Federation and Ukraine.
To the Commission on Sustainable Development, the Council elected, by acclamation, Canada, Bulgaria, Ireland, Mexico, Panama, Slovak Republic, United Kingdom, United States and Venezuela. By secret ballot, India, Indonesia and Japan were elected.
Elected by acclamation to the Executive Board of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) were Belgium, Germany, Italy, Jamaica, New Zealand, Nicaragua and the United States. A secret ballot was held to elect Czech Republic, Indonesia, Oman and Sri Lanka to the UNICEF Executive Board. (By agreement among the members of the Group of Western European and Other States, Canada resigned from that body.)
By acclamation, the Council elected Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Austria, Brazil, France, Japan, Norway, Russian Federation and the United Kingdom to the Executive Board of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)/United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). By secret ballot, Pakistan and Thailand were also elected to that body. (Canada and Spain resigned, also by agreement among the Western European and Other States.)
To the Executive Board of the World Food Programme (WFP), the Council elected, by acclamation, Belgium, Denmark, Iran, Japan, Mexico and the United Kingdom. (Under agreements reached within the Western European and Other States, Sweden and Finland resigned from that body.)
Elected by acclamation to the Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting were China, France, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Russian Federation and United Kingdom.
Also this afternoon, the Council heard an oral report on the question of the accreditation of three non-governmental organizations to Habitat II by Council Vice-President Karel Kovanda (Czech Republic), who is coordinating informal consultations on the matter.
The three non-governmental organizations in question are the "Taiwan International Alliance" (based in the United States), the "Canada Tibet Committee" (based in Canada), and the "Tibetan Rights Campaign" (based in the United States). Mr. Kovanda said that In the case of the first two organizations, it was felt that the matter could be deferred to the Habitat Conference secretariat for a decision, following the precedent set during the accreditation of certain non-governmental organizations to the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995). However, in the case of the third organization -- the Tibetan Rights Campaign -- "the acuteness of the situation and its possible resolution by a vote" had surfaced within the last two days.
The Economic and Social Council will meet again at 10 a.m. tomorrow, 3 May, to continue elections and nominations to various bodies.
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