PREPARATORY COMMITTEE FOR SPECIAL SESSION ON WORLD SOCIAL SUMMIT ADOPTS DECISIONS ON NGO PARTICIPATION

Press Release
SOC/4514

PREPARATORY COMMITTEE FOR SPECIAL SESSION ON WORLD SOCIAL SUMMIT ADOPTS DECISIONS ON NGO PARTICIPATION

Subject to the approval of the General Assembly, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) will be given accreditation for the Special Session of the General Assembly on the Implementation of the Outcome of the World Summit for Social Development and Further Initiatives, the Special Session's Preparatory Committee decided this afternoon. That decision was made by one of two drafts approved without a vote during the Committee's resumed first session, the first part of which had been held in New York from 17 to 28 May.

By that draft (document A/AC.253/L.12) on the Special Session to be held in Geneva on 26 to 30 June 2000, the Committee decided to open accreditation to all NGOs enjoying consultative status with the Economic and Social Council, and to all NGOs accredited either to the World Summit for Social Development or to the Preparatory Committee. There would be no further examination of credentials unless the application to either had been rejected by the Committee on NGOs.

Further by the draft, the Preparatory Committee recommended that the Assembly accredit any NGOs which had not participated in either the World Summit or the Preparatory Committee through a Credentials Committee set up by 7 April 2000 and composed of the Preparatory Committee's Bureau and members of the Secretariat. Based on information received from NGOs by March 2000, the Committee will present its recommendations at the Preparatory Committee's second regular session to be held in New York from 3 to 14 April 2000. Recommendations will be based on such information as the organization's purpose, its activities at the national, regional or international levels and its annual or other reports.

By another draft (document A/AC.253/L.13), the Preparatory Committee recommended that the Assembly decide that NGO representatives may make statements in the Ad Hoc Committee of the Whole of the special session. Further, the Assembly would decide that a limited number of NGOs in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council would make statements in the plenary debate of the special session. The

Preparatory Committee - 2 - Press Release SOC/4514 14th Meeting (AM) 21 September 1999

General Assembly President was to present a list of selected NGOs to Member States and to ensure the timeliness and transparency of the selection. Finally by the draft, the Assembly would decide that such accreditation and participation arrangements would in no way create a precedent for other special sessions of the General Assembly.

The special session developed from the Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development and the Programme of Action deriving from the World Summit for Social Development held in Copenhagen from 6 to 12 March 1995. The Declaration and Programme of Action contained the blueprint for States and Governments to put the highest priority on implementing policies and actions for promoting social progress, social justice, human betterment and social integration at the national, regional and international levels.

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