Committee on NGOs

2002 Session

1^st and 2^nd Meetings (AM & PM))

COMMITTEE ON NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS OPENS 2002 SESSION,

RECOMMENDS 18 GROUPS FOR CONSULTATIVE STATUS

The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) opened its 2002 session this morning.  In a separate meeting this afternoon, it recommended 18 national and international organizations for standing with the Economic and Social Council, including the Chinese People’s Association for Peace and Disarmament and Medical Aid for Palestinians. 

The 19-member Committee makes recommendations of standing or reclassification to the Council.  It uses a variety of criteria, including applicant’s 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.

Organizations with general status can propose items for the Council’s agenda, attend and speak at meetings, and circulate statements.  Those with special status can attend meetings and circulate statements, while those on the roster can only attend meetings.  Organizations with general and special status must report every four years on their activities in support of the United Nations.

This morning, the Committee adopted its agenda and organization of work.  It elected for a one-year term a new Chairperson, Mihaela Blajan (Romania), and three Vice-Chairmen:  Philipp Ackermann (Germany); Ishtiaq Hussain Andrabi (Pakistan); and Guillermo Francisco Reyes (Colombia).  Election of the fourth Vice-Chairman, who would also serve as Rapporteur, was postponed pending consultations.

Statements were made by:  Assistant Secretary-General for External Relations, Gillian Sorensen; the outgoing Chairman, Levent Bilman (Turkey); the newly elected Chair; Director of the Division for Economic and Social Council Support, Sarbuland Khan; and Chief of the NGO Section, Hanifa Mezoui.

Recommended for special consultative status this afternoon were the following international organizations:  Assistance pedagogique internationale, based in France; Imam Al-Sadr Foundation, based in Lebanon; International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, based in New York; Medical Aid for Palestinians, based in London; and Dominican Leadership Conference, based in Chicago.

National NGOs recommended for special status were:  Assembly of First Nations/National Indian Brotherhood; Association pour la Formation et l’Insertion de l’Adolescent et de la Femme of Cameroon; Chinese People’s Association for Peace and Disarmament; Mariano y Rafael Castillo Cordova Foundation of Guatemala; Argentine Society of Pediatrics; Association pour la defense des droits de la

femme et de l’infant; Interregional Union of Life Help for Mentally Handicapped Persons, “Sail of Hope”, of Russia; and CARE (Christian Action Research and Education) of the United Kingdom.

Recommended for roster status were the following international organizations:  Indigenous People’s Centre for Documentation, Research and Information, based in Geneva; Viva Network, based in Oxford, United Kingdom; and Moot Alumni Association, based in Frankfurt.

National NGOs recommended for roster status were Christian Blind Mission International of Germany, and Femme Developpement Entreprise en Afrique, of Senegal.

Consideration of the request for roster status of the American Family Association of New York was left pending until answers to representatives’ questions concerning the scope of their activities of international relevance and other matters.

Information on the organizations considered today can be found in documents E/C.2/2002/R.2 and Add.1, Add.2 and Add 4.

The request of the following organizations to be recommended to speak at the 2002 substantive session of the Economic and Social Council was approved:  Médecins du Monde; World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts; Znanie; Soroptimist International; World Federation of Youth; and International Trustee Fund of the Tsyolkovsky. 

The Committee is comprised of 19 delegations:  five members from African States; four each from Asian States, Western European and Other States, and Latin American and Caribbean States; and two from Eastern European States.  Its current members are Algeria, Bolivia, Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba, Ethiopia, France, Germany, India, Lebanon, Pakistan, Romania, Russian Federation, Senegal, Sudan, Tunisia, Turkey and the United States. 

The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations will meet again at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 14 May, to continue its consideration of applications.

Opening Statements

Outgoing Chairman LEVENT BILMAN (Turkey) said that, thanks to his two years as Chairman, he stood before the Committee with considerably increased experience in matters related to the United Nations, in general, and the United Nations-civil society relationship, in particular.  Dramatic and widespread growth of civil society groups had taken place in the 1990s, in parallel with momentous changes in the world scene. 

He said that national and international decision makers had come to recognize the influence of the steadily expanding and increasingly active NGO sector.  Also over the past decade, there had been significant changes in the relationship of NGOs with the United Nations, and in particular, with the Economic and Social Council.  NGOs and other major civil society groups had become “indispensable partners”. 

In terms of the Committee’s smooth functioning, he noted that the working group had been tasked with several important issues and had resolved many of them. 

Among its most important achievements was the drafting of a new application questionnaire.  The revision was better focused, bringing more clarity to the review process of the Committee. 

GILLIAN SORENSEN, Assistant Secretary-General for External Relations, thanked Mr. Bilman for his overriding commitment and efforts and patience to bring about consensus.  He truly deserved his nickname “Mr. Consensus”.  The cost of an error in judgement was less in the earlier years, when NGOs played a more marginal role.  Today, the Committee was faced with a staggering number of requests from a widely diverse pool of applicants, yet now errors in judgement by the Committee could lead to repercussions for the United Nations.

She said the oversight of access to inter-governmental deliberations had become a very important responsibility, for which the Committee had maintained its standards and ensured strict adherence to due process.  Rather than adopting a quick-fix procedure, members had taken a rigorous approach to evaluating NGO applications.  The Committee had also recognized the significance of being the only intergovernmental body solely concerned with United Nations-NGO relationships.

SARBULAND KHAN, Director of the Division for Economic and Social Council Support and Coordination, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, said that on those few occasions in the past two years when the Committee had been unable to reach consensus, the matters had come to the Economic and Social Council, which was supposed to do better.  But, it had not done better, simply because it could not.  So, where the Committee had not reached consensus, it seemed it had not been possible to do so. 

He said the Committee had a most difficult task, since it was charged not only with being the gatekeeper, but with opening the door to the NGO community. In terms of building a real partnership with civil society, he commended the outgoing Chairman and recalled the recent inclusion of NGOs as active and equal partners in the Monterrey Conference, including as full participants in the round tables. 

New Chairperson MIHAELA BLAJAN (Romania) said she was honoured to have been elected Chairperson, since she had come from a region where NGOs had been particularly active with governments in all areas of relevance, including regional and international concerns.  Their results had recommended them for greater interaction and cooperation.  Despite the difficult and sometimes controversial issues dealt with by the Committee, its work reflected on everyone at the United Nations, as the NGO community was an important force for positive action.   

HANIFA MEZOUI, Chief of the NGO Section, informed the Committee that it had 210 cases to be reviewed in the coming two weeks.  She drew their attention to their binders, which had contained all applications and been prepared and distributed to facilitate member’s work.

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