Committee on NGOS

15^th Meeting (AM)

COMMITTEE ON NGOS RECOMMENDS EIGHT ORGANIZATIONS FOR CONSULTATIVE STATUS

WITH ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL; DEFERS DECISIONS ON TWO OTHERS

The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) today recommended eight organizations for consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and deferred decisions on the applications of two others as it considered new applications for consultative status and new requests for reclassification.

The 19-member Committee makes recommendations on an organization’s standing or reclassification with ECOSOC using a variety of criteria, including applicant mandate, governance and financial regime.  Currently, 2,234 NGOs have such status.  Those with roster status can attend meetings; those with special status can attend meetings and circulate statements; and those with general status can attend meetings, circulate statements and propose items for the Council’s agenda.

The Committee recommended special status for Centre d’Accompagnement des Autochtones Pygmees et Minoritaires Vulnerables, an international organization based in the Democratic Republic of the Congo aiming to improve the social and economic situation and protect the rights of the indigenous Pygmy people.

Special status was also recommended for:  Fund of Aid for Youth, a national organization based in Azerbaijan; Non-governmental Ecological Vernadsky Foundation, a national organization based in the Russian Federation; Antiviolence Center, a national organization based in Italy; and International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse, an international organization based in Canada.

The Committee recommended roster status for Dzeno Association, an international NGO based in the Czech Republic aiming to develop and support traditional Romany values and characteristics.  It also recommended roster status for Plan International Norway, an organization striving to achieve lasting improvement in the quality of life of deprived children in developing countries, and for European Cyclist Federation, an international organization based in Belgium.

A decision on the application of the World Trade Point Federation, an international organization based in Switzerland, was deferred as questions were raised concerning its independence from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development as well as its membership organizations in the Americas and in China.

The Committee also deferred a decision on the application of World Vision Canada, a national humanitarian aid organization based in Canada, as questions were raised regarding the nature of its projects, the countries where those projects operated and its sources of income.

Information about the organizations considered today can be found in document E/C.2/2003/R2/Add.1, 2 and 3.  It is also available to the Committee in electronic form on laptop computers, as part of the “Paperless Committee” initiative being launched during this session of the Committee.  (See Press Release NGO/497 of 5 May.)

Current members of the NGO Committee are Cameroon, Senegal, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Côte d’Ivoire, China, Pakistan, India, Iran, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Cuba, Russian Federation, Romania, Germany, France, United States and Turkey.

The Committee will meet again at 10 a.m. on Friday, 16 May, to continue its consideration of applications for consultative status.

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