Committee on NGOS

17^th Meeting (PM)

NGO COMMITTEE CONSIDERS REPORT ON WORK METHODS, REINSTATEMENT

OF ORGANIZATIONS WITH SUSPENDED STATUS

The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations this afternoon discussed a report of the informal working group on the review of the Committee’s methods of work, as well as reinstatement of consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that had been suspended.

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 Coordinator of the informal working group, the representative of Turkey, reported that consensus had not been reached on the format for quadrennial reports that NGOs had to submit to ECOSOC.  The quadrennial reports were the only means of monitoring the performance of NGOs and the working group’s exercise aimed at seeking to improve both the content and quality of those reports.  A proposal to send a letter to NGOs with roster status for updates on their work had also been discussed, as such NGOs were not required to submit quadrennial reports.  Consensus had not been reached on that proposal.

However, consensus had been reached on a draft text for a letter reminding NGOs of their responsibilities for accreditation of their representatives.  That issue had sometimes led to problems, particularly during sessions of the Human Rights Commission, he said.  The draft letter stated, among other things, that NGOs were directly accountable for the actions and statements of anyone accredited by their organization to a United Nations meeting or event.

Committee members expressed support for the draft of the letter to NGOs, and then approved it, although the representative of Cuba said he thought it might be better to add as an annex to the letter a list of NGOs that had been suspended or those whose status had been withdrawn.  That suggestion was not approved.

Other matters addressed in the working group, the representative of Turkey said, included special reports consideration of NGOs with roster status and the question of NGOs under umbrella organizations.  Other issues on the agenda had not been taken up yet by the working group.  Those included reclassifications of status; how to tackle the backlog of applications; mechanisms to improve the work of the Committee – one of the most important items on the agenda – and the format of the Committee’s report of the Committee.

The Committee also decided to remove the Inter-Parliamentary Union from the ECOSOC list of NGOs in consultative status, as the General Assembly, in its resolution 57/32 of 19 November 2002, had granted observer status to that organization.

The Committee finally took up the matter of reinstatement of suspended NGOs. Cuba’s representative said reinstatement of an NGO after expiration of its suspension was a complex matter, as resolution 1996/31 was not clear about the matter.  The Committee should take into consideration the possibility that, during the period of suspension, an NGO could have changed its objectives, structure or sources of income.

Germany’s representative thought that a suspension with a fixed term should be lifted automatically at the end of that term.  As there was no consensus on the matter, he proposed asking for an opinion from the Legal Counsel.

After a lengthy discussion between Committee members on the contents of the request for legal advice, the Committee’s Chair, Mihaela Blajan (Romania), ruled that a letter would be written to the Legal Counsel asking for clarification regarding the distinction between suspension and withdrawal of consultative status when it came to reinstatement of consultative status for NGOs.

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 Monday, 19 May, to continue its consideration of applications for consultative status.

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