Committee on NGOs

17^th & 18^th Meetings (AM & PM)

COMMITTEE, FOLLOWING ROLL-CALL VOTE, DECIDES NOT TO ACT

ON REPORT BY FREEDOM HOUSE

Committee Recommends Special Status for One Organization,

Closes File on Another, and Leaves One Application Pending

The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) decided today to take no action on a report submitted by the organization Freedom House and closed the case of another, United Towns Agency for North-South Cooperation, as it considered special reports submitted by NGOs applying for consultative status with the Economic and Social Council.

That decision followed a no-action motion proposed by the United States delegation under rule 50 of the Rules of Procedure.  The Committee adopted the motion by a roll-call vote of 10 in favour, 5 against (China, Cuba, Lebanon, Russian Federation, Sudan) and 3 abstentions (Ethiopia, India, Tunisia).

[Under rule 50 of the Rules of Procedure, a delegation can move the adjournment of discussion of any agenda item before the Committee acts on it.]

Committee Chairperson Mihaela Blajan (Romania) took note of an explanation by Algeria’s representative that he had misunderstood the voting procedure and would otherwise have abstained.  Pakistan’s delegate said he would have voted against the motion had he been present.

The delegations of France and Germany supported the no-action motion, while those of Cuba and China opposed it.

Proposing the motion, the representative of the United States said his delegation had thoroughly examined the special report submitted by Freedom House and was fully satisfied with the responses the NGO had given.  The Committee had previously questioned representatives of the organization in January and expressed satisfaction with their responses after hours of discussion.  Freedom House was a well respected and internationally known organization whose work should be welcomed in the United Nations, he added.

Cuba’s representative said her delegation was not satisfied with the NGO’s responses as to its activities in Cuba.  Its report did not include details of criteria and procedures for accrediting its representatives with the Economic and Social Council organs and with the Commission on Human Rights in Geneva.  Those representatives included a member of another organization who had been denied

accreditation on grounds of political activity and ties with Cuban-American organizations against whom there were strong suspicions of terrorist activities.  That shuffling of accreditation created doubt and raised new questions, she added.

Other speakers on the topic of Freedom House were the representatives of France, Germany, Senegal, China, Sudan, Lebanon, Chile, Pakistan and Ethiopia.

Referring to yesterday’s roll-call vote to close the file on the deferred application of the Geneva-based NGO Felege Guihon International, Guillermo Reyes (Colombia) said he would have abstained had he been present.

Turning to new and deferred applications for consultative status with the Economic and Social Council, the Committee recommended a previously deferred application for special status submitted by Physicians for Social Responsibility, a national NGO based in Washington, D.C.  It left pending a request for special status by Focus on the Family (Canada), a United States-affiliated national organization based in British Columbia.

Information on those organizations can be found in documents E/C.2/2001/R.2.Add.8 and E/C.2/2002/R.2/Add.2, respectively.

The 19-member Committee uses various criteria to recommend general, special and roster status.  Organizations that have general and special consultative status can attend meetings of the Council and circulate statements of a certain length; those with general status can, in addition, speak at meetings and propose items for the Council's agenda.  Organizations with roster status can only attend meetings. 

Also today, the Committee resumed its consideration of agenda item 3 entitled “Strengthening of the Non-Governmental Organization Section of the Secretariat”, deciding that it would take action on a related draft decision next week.

Introducing that text, the representative of the Sudan said it concentrated on a proposed Trust Fund to help develop and sustain the NGO Informal Regional Network, and to strengthen the capacity of NGOs worldwide to fulfil their role.

The representatives of China, India, Germany, France and Colombia spoke during the ensuing discussion.

A representative of the observer delegation of Iran also spoke.

Hanifa Mezoui, Chief of the NGO Section, said the Trust Fund was one in a thousand ways of achieving parity in the distribution of resources among the NGOs of the world.  It was important to replace the one-on-one consultations of the past with the outreach programme represented by the NGO Informal Regional Network.

The Committee on NGOs will meet again at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow.

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