Committee on NGOs

14^th & 15^th Meetings (AM & PM)

COMMITTEE ON NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS APPROVES 47 APPLICATIONS

FOR CONSULTATIVE STATUS, DEFERS 21, AS IT RESUMES 2007 SESSION

The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) today approved the applications of 47 bodies for consultative status with the Economic and Social Council, and postponed 21 others.

As it considered new applications and reclassifications, the Committee granted special consultative status to the following organizations:

-- Information Society of Ukraine, a national NGO working towards the creation of an information society and high-tech development in that country;

-- Fundación MIR (Mission International Rescue), a national organization based in the Dominican Republic, assisting families and children in escaping poverty;

-- Réseau international des organismes de basin, an international NGO with headquarters in France, interested in rational water resources management;

-- Asayesefid (White Cane), an Iranian national organization dedicated to the empowerment of blind and visually impaired individuals;

-- Asociatia Pro Democratia, a Romanian national organization with a mission to strengthen democracy in the country by encouraging civic participation;

-- Federación Internacional de Asociaciones de Ayuda Social, Ecológica y Cultural, a Dominican Republic-based international NGO dedicated to social, ecological and cultural exchange and to the development of social aid and the defence of natural resources, among other things;

-- Association for Emissions Control by Catalyst, an international NGO with headquarters in Belgium, which is a non-profit scientific association of European companies engaged in the development, production and testing of catalyst and filter-based technologies for vehicle emissions control;

-- Fundación Sales; an Argentine national NGO promoting science, technology and culture through social communication;

-- Initiatives Researches Experiences for a New Europe -– IRENE Regional, an Italy-based non-profit organization seeking to promote human rights and democratization, particularly equal opportunities between men and women;

-- Global Alliance for TB Drug Development, a United States-based international NGO seeking to accelerate the development of new, faster-acting tuberculosis medicines;

-- Sodalitas, an Italian national organization acting as a liaison between the profit and non-profit world;

-- Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America, a national United States association;

-- European Transport Safety Council;

-- China Association for NGO Cooperation, an NGO with a mission to address poverty alleviation, environmental protection and social development, particularly in China’s poor, remote and minority-inhabited areas;

-- Malaysian Medical Relief Society, aninternational organization dedicated to providing medical and humanitarian aid in crisis and non-crisis situations;

-- Woïyo Kondeye, a national organization based in Mali that unites several grassroots women’s organizations;

-- Coordination des associations et ONG feminines du Mali, a national NGO with more than 2,000 member organizations, promoting the welfare of women, children and the family;

-- American Youth Understanding Diabetes Abroad, an international youth-based organization with headquarters in the United States, working with local diabetes communities throughout the world;

-- Réseaux I.P. Européens Network Coordination Centre, a Netherlands-based international organization responsible for allocating the registration of IP addresses and Autonomous System Number Resources within Europe, the Middle East and parts of Central Asia;

-- Bangladesh Scholarship Council, a national organization aiming to rebuild the nation through educational schemes;

-- Yayasan Cinta Anak Bangsa, a national organization seeking to save the lives and minds of Indonesian youth from the threat of narcotics and associated dangers of HIV/AIDS;

-- Association des consommateurs de telecommunications de Côte d’Ivoire, a national NGO in the telecommunications field;

-- SOUL for the Development of Women and Children, a Yemeni national organization striving to be a model for NGOs, which embody the partnership for development;

-- Swiss Catholic Lenten Fund, a national organization with its main activities concentrated around the time of Lent, seeking to raise the consciousness of church and society;

-- Association Nationale Al Hidn, a Morocco–based NGO focusing on issues of women, family and children;

-- Institute of International Urban Development, an international NGO with headquarters in the United States;

-- Network Movement for Justice and Development, a national organization based in Sierra Leone, focusing on human rights abuses, marginalization of the rural populations and their harsh economic situation;

-- Center for Democratic Renewal, an NGO with headquarters in the United States seeking to advance the vision of a democratic, just and diverse society, free of racism and bigotry;

-- Community-Based Rehabilitation Network (South Asia), an international organization with headquarters in India, which seeks to enable equal participation by persons with disabilities and to protect their human rights;

-- Fundación Antonio Nuñez Jimenez de la Naturaleza y el Hombre, a national NGO promoting “an ethics perspective and one of love among all the peoples of the earth”;

-- Kurdistan Reconstruction and Development Society, an Iraq-based national NGO;

-- United States Burn Support Organization, an international NGO providing services to burn survivors and their families;

-- Pew Institute for Ocean Science, an international organization based in the United States, promoting “world-class scientific activity aimed at protecting the world’s oceans and the species that inhabit them”;

-- Society for Women and AIDS in Africa, a Senegalese national organization;

-- The World Federation of Khoja Shia Ithna-Asheri Muslim Communities, an international NGO with headquarters in the United Kingdom;

-- OISCA International ( South India Chapter), a national organization focusing on the environment, education and development, with special emphasis on women and children;

-- National Union of the Association of Protection of Motherhood, Childhood and Families, a Brazil-based NGO whose purpose is to support programmes in social protection, health, education and professional training;

-- World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry, an international NGO based in Denmark;

-- Institute of Human Rights and the Holocaust, a United States-based organization that aims to understand, explore and evaluate contemporary mechanisms for protecting human rights and the rule of law in view of the lessons of the Holocaust and its aftermath;

-- Moroccan Human Rights Association, which promotes and defends human rights, works to safeguard human dignity and encourages Morocco to ratify all international human rights conventions, integrate their provisions into domestic law, report human rights violations and support victims;

-- Fundación Salvadoreña para el Desarrollo Económico y Social, a policy-oriented think tank and research centre in El Salvador, promoting the economic and social progress of Salvadoreans through sustainable development within a democratic system of individual liberties;

-- Norwegian Forum for Environment and Development, which promotes advocacy for sustainable development globally and nationally, working for sustainable development, people’s participation, solidarity, peace and equality;

-- World Mission Foundation, an organization that provides HIV/AIDS services through education, information and prevention to people and areas at risk, mostly in the United States and Africa;

-- International Medical Corps, a global humanitarian non-profit organization dedicated to saving lives and relieving suffering through health care training and relief and development programmes;

-- Asian Peoples’ Disability Alliance, a global United Kingdom-based organization that serves the needs of Asian disabled people, their families and careers, specializing in social rehabilitation;

-- Association internationale des régions francophones, a France-based NGO that links French-speaking communities and regions by means of cooperative activities, information sharing and lessons learned; and

-- Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse.

The Committee decided to return later in the session to the applications of Concern Worldwide, United States, Inc.; December 18 vzw; Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Egyptian Centre for Women’s Rights; Dignity International; BAOBAB for Women’s Human Rights; Assamblea delle Donne per lo Sviluppo e la Lotta Contro L’Esclusione Sociale; European Landowners’ Association; Inner Trip Reiyukai International; Better Life Programme for African Rural Women; Center for Interethnic Cooperation; Red Venezolana de Organizaciones para el Desarrollo Social; Hudson Institute; Iranian Society of Engineering Design and Assembly; United Religions Initiative; Trial; Microteam education apprentissage et nouvelles technologies; Al-Hakim Foundation; Federación Estatal de Lesbianas, Gays, Transexuales y Bisexuales; Civil Resource Development and Documentation Centre; and Forest Products Association of Canada.

The Committee also considered a complaint in which the representative of China requested the withdrawal of consultative status from Liberal International -- an NGO granted general observer status in 1995 –- on the grounds that it had severely abused that status on 4 March by assisting a ranking official from China’s Province of Taiwan to gain access to a meeting of the Human Rights Council and advocate Taiwan’s membership in the World Health Organization (WHO).  The Secretariat had since clarified that the official did not hold an appropriate identity document and should not have been granted a badge to gain access to the room and to address the Council.

Expressing the Chinese delegation’s deep concern at the incident, he said NGOs with consultative status were supposed to abide by United Nations rules and not abuse their consultative status.  The behaviour of Liberal International was obviously contrary to the principles of the United Nations Charter.  By advocating Taiwan’s membership in the United Nations, the NGO promoted the secession of the Province of Taiwan from China, a failure to respect that country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.  Such behaviour was clearly politically motivated.

Moreover, WHO was an intergovernmental organization, whose membership was only open to sovereign States, he pointed out, adding that, as part of China, the Province of Taiwan was not eligible to membership in that organization.  Liberal International had severely abused its consultative status by bringing irrelevant political issues to the Human Rights Council and must take responsibility for its actions.  The NGO Committee, for its part, should safeguard its responsibility for granting consultative status.  It was to be hoped that the Committee could reach a decision by consensus, since all its members supported the “One China” policy.

Cuba’s representative, supporting China’s position, said a representative of Liberal International had also attacked Cuba vehemently, linking it to allegations of extrajudicial executions.  Such lies inevitably led to the conclusion that the consultative status had been abused.  Another important matter related to the rules of the United Nations: one of the NGO’s Presidents was of Cuban origin and had fled justice in the 1960s, having been accused of violent terrorist activities, including the use of explosives in Cuba.

Sudan’s representative supported the arguments presented by China and Cuba, emphasizing the Committee’s responsibility for safeguarding the criteria for NGO participation.  Also sharing their concern over the seriousness of the allegations, the representatives of Romania, Pakistan, United Kingdom, Egypt, Angola, Russian Federation, Israel, Colombia, Qatar, Burundi and Guinea urged the Committee to consider the case carefully, and welcomed the Committee’s intention -– expressed by the Chairman -- to contact the NGO today and request a reply no later than Wednesday.

Several other speakers agreed that Liberal International should be given an opportunity to respond, so that the Committee could make a decision by week’s end.

During an interactive dialogue with NGOs, a representative of the Association internationale des régions francophones said the organization aimed to exchange experiences, mobilize skills and solidarity, and create joint prosperity in the French-speaking world.  It requested the Committee to approve its application, noting that its recent budgetary surplus would go into 2007 action programmes to train political managers in the southern regions of French-speaking areas.

The United Kingdom’s representative supported the Association’s application, while Romania’s representative asked if its programmes would cover French-speaking areas of Eastern Europe.

The Association’s representative responded by saying it had developed training programmes for interregional francophone cooperation and was working with focal points in Central and Eastern Europe.

The Committee then granted special consultative status to the Association.

Cuba’s representatives expressed concern over the application by the Hudson Institute, saying its responses stated that it had no financial, legal and consulting links to specific Governments.  But the Institute’s representatives had sat on formal delegations of the United States and had posted news articles on its website that were highly critical of certain countries.  Cuba wished to know whether the Institute carried out political, as well as analytical, research, since its researchers appeared to have very marked views on certain countries.

In that regard, the United Kingdom’s delegate said it was not unusual for NGO representatives to participate in formal Government delegations as advisers.

Egypt’s representative asked about the Institute’s spending plans for its budgetary surplus of $350,000.

In response, a representative of Institute said it was a very independent, internationally oriented policy research organization with a great diversity of views on such issues as the Iraq war, immigration and foreign policy questions.  It did not conduct political research.  Individual researchers from around the world had individual views on economic policy, international affairs and development policy, and participated as formal members of country delegations worldwide.  The budgetary surplus went into the Institute’s endowment to fund operations.  The Institute would provide a written response to delegates’ questions.

As the Committee approved its programme and organization of work for the session, its Chairman, Roa Arboleda ( Colombia), emphasized that the programme of work was particularly heavy for a one-week session.  The Committee had before it 94 new and 42 deferred applications, in addition to 57 new quadrennial reports, 6 deferred ones and 1 new reclassification.  Questions had been sent to 61 organizations and the Secretariat had received 58 responses, so far.

The pre-session working group had examined the backlog of quadrennial reports, which had been a concern for many sessions, he continued.  There were 58 replies on new applications and 16 on deferred applications.  Attention had also been paid to NGOs placed on the roster by virtue of their consultative status with other United Nations bodies or specialized agencies, with which the Secretariat had had no contact at all.

Hanifa Mezoui, Chief of the NGO Section in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, provided an update for delegates regarding improvements to the technical aspect of the work of the “Paperless Committee”, including an online attendance list, which would be updated in real time, as well as detailed statistics and an “inbox” containing communications from NGOs.  The archives of previous Committee sessions were now available on its website.

The Committee on NGOs will meet again at 10 a.m. tomorrow, Tuesday 15 May, to begin its consideration of applications for consultative status and requests for reclassification deferred from its previous session.

* *** *

For information media • not an official record