Committee on NGOs

31^st Meeting (AM)

NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS COMMITTEE BEGINS RESUMED 2002 SESSION

The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations elected a new Vice Chairman this morning, as it began its resumed 2001 session.  It also adopted its agenda and programme of work, among other organizational matters.  The session will conclude on 26 January.

The 19-member Committee makes recommendations to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) on applications for standing with the Council, and for reclassification of that standing, from non-governmental organizations.  It uses a variety of criteria for those recommendations, including the applicants’ mandates, governance and financial regimes.  Non-governmental organizations with consultative status have either general, special or roster status with different privileges and obligations accorded to each. 

[For background information on the 2001 session, please see Press Release NGO/404 of 7 May 2001.]

In an opening statement this morning, the Committee’s Chairman, Levent Bilman (Turkey), reviewed the workload for the resumed session.  He said that

94 deferred applications, 56 deferred quadrennial reports, 67 new applications and 10 new reclassifications would be considered during the two-week session, in addition to those that had been deferred. 

He recalled that in his closing statement at the end of the three-week meeting in May, he had emphasized the importance of the issues before the Committee’s Working Group, including the highly important topic of the relationship between the United Nations and non-governmental organizations.  A new questionnaire had been finalized and distributed, and would hopefully be adopted at the present session.  The Working Group had also made considerable progress on its work on accreditation modalities for non-governmental organizations representatives at United Nations meetings, an important issue relevant to complaints logged by Member States.

Finally, the Chairman recalled the Committee's concern over the conduct of non-governmental organizations at sessions of the Commission on Human Rights.  The Committee had decided to increase coordination with the Commission, with a view to seeking preventive measures directed at root causes of such problems.  Progress in that area was ongoing.  Among other measures, it had been decided that the Committee would prepare guidelines to make the rights and obligations of non-governmental organizations more explicit.  The guidelines would be distributed during the general briefing prior to the Commission sessions and during the weekly regular meetings of the Commission with non-governmental organizations.

After the Chairman’s remarks, Orlando Requeijo Gual (Cuba) was elected Vice-Chairman, by acclamation, to replace Mercedes Armas Garcia (Cuba) for the unexpired term which extends to the end of the 2001 session of the Committee.

In adopting the agenda this morning, the Committee approved a new item, entitled “Implementation of the Economic and Social Council resolution 1995/32.” The item concerned applications of indigenous organizations not in consultative status with the ECOSOC which were interested in participating in the Working Group of the Commission on Human Rights concerning a draft declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples.  The Committee also added a related item entitled “Implementation of ECOSOC resolution 1995/32.”

The Committee also decided to allocate time each day from 5 to 6 p.m., to consider the applications of non-governmental organizations who had sent representatives to the Committee meeting.

The representatives of India and Germany, United States, Cuba, Tunisia, Russian Federation and Sudan spoke on organizational matters.

Hanifa Mezoui, Chief of the Non-Governmental Organizations Section, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, explained the organization of documents that had been distributed to the Committee.  The Secretary of the Committee, Otto Gustafik (Slovakia) also spoke, concerning utilization of conference resources.

The Committee will meet again at 3 p.m. today to consider non-governmental organization applications for consultative status.

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