COMMITTEE ON NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS RECOMMENDS NINE GROUPS FOR CONSULTATIVE STATUS WITH ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL
Press Release
NGO/329
COMMITTEE ON NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS RECOMMENDS NINE GROUPS FOR CONSULTATIVE STATUS WITH ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL
20000124The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations recommended this afternoon that nine groups be granted special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council, and left pending its recommendations on another five.
In order to forge mutually beneficial relations between the Council and civil society groups, the Committees 19 members review and make recommendations on non- governmental organizations applications for consultative status with either general, special or roster classification. Each of these carries with it distinct responsibilities and privileges. The Committees recommendations are transmitted to the Council, which takes its final decisions as a whole.
The Committee recommended granting special consultative status to the following groups: Global Policy Forum, Association Femme et Developpment; Canadian Labour Congress; Coordination Francaise du Lobby Europeen des Femmes; Cascadia Quest; Islamic Womens Institute of Iran; Lebanese Welfare Association for the Handicapped; Les Scouts Tunisienne; and World Human Dimension. Groups with special consultative status can attend the Councils meetings and make statements in them.
The Committee decided to leave pending its decisions on: World Information Clearing Centre; National Center for Missing and Exploited Children; National Association of Negro Business and Professional Womens Clubs, Inc.; and Olabisi Olaleye Foundation.
The Committee agreed that the Secretariat would dispatch a letter to the Israel Womens Network regarding its request for a deferral. The Network would be informed that it was up to the Committee to decide on the deferral of a request, and that a non-governmental organization could not set the Committees agenda. The group would be asked to explain the reasons for its request and be informed that the Committee, once it received the reasons for the request, would revert to the issue and either grant or refuse the request.
The representatives of Algeria, Pakistan, China, India, Chile, Lebanon, Tunisia, United States, Bolivia, Turkey, France, Cuba, Ireland, Russian Federation, Colombia, and the observer from Syria spoke this afternoon. Hanifa Mezoui, Chief of the Non-Governmental Organizations Section, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, responded to Committee members questions. There was a brief suspension this afternoon to address the order of work.
The Committee will meet again at 10 a.m. tomorrow, 25 January, to continue its two-week resumed 1999 session, and review organizations applications for consultative status and requests for reclassification.
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