Continuing Session, Non-Governmental Organizations Committee Recommends 8 Groups for Special Consultative Status, Postpones Action on 84 Others

The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations continued its 2023 session today, recommending 8 entities for special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council and deferring action on 84 others.

The 19-member Committee considers applications for consultative status and requests for reclassification submitted by non-governmental organizations (NGOs).  Once an application has been reviewed and approved by the Committee it is considered recommended for consultative status.  Organizations which were granted general and special status can attend meetings of the Council and issue statements, while those with general status can also speak during meetings and propose agenda items.  Organizations with roster status can only attend meetings.

Action on several applications was postponed because Committee members requested further information from the candidates about, among other items, details of their organizations’ activities, partners, expenditures and sources of funding.

At the outset of the meeting, the representatives of Pakistan, Cuba, Türkiye and India engaged in a discussion with the Chief of the NGO Branch, expressing concern over their lack of opportunity to afford sufficient consideration to answers submitted by organizations shortly before, or during, the meeting.  Such representatives went on to highlight specific examples of this as the meeting progressed.  Citing the human-resources and financial constraints faced by the Branch, the Chief suggested that the Committee resolve this matter during an informal meeting.

The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations will meet again at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, 31 January, to continue its session.

Special Consultative Status

The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations recommended that the Economic and Social Council grant special consultative status to the following 8 entities:

Zamzam Foundation (Somalia);

Centre for International Promotion Fund (Russian Federation);

Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (United Kingdom);

VIDEA a BC-Based International Development Education Association (Canada);

World Humanitarian Drive (United Kingdom);

Fagrådet - Rusfeltets hovedorganisasjon (Norway);

Corporate Counsel Women of Color Inc (United States); and

Disability:IN (United States).

The Committee postponed action on the application of the following 84 organizations:

Association of Women for Awareness & Motivation (AWAM) (Pakistan) — as the representative of Pakistan asked for details regarding its organizational members;

Centre for Research and Development (India) — as the representative of Pakistan asked if the organization is required to report to the Government, from which it receives major funding;

China Group Companies Association (China) — as the representative of Cuba asked why the organization’s costs are higher than its income and how it finances itself;

Council for Sustainable Peace and Development (India) — as the representative of Pakistan asked for details regarding the organization’s sources of funding for certain projects;

Legal Aid Society (Pakistan) — as the representative of India asked for segregated data regarding the contributions the organization received from international sources and Government authorities;

Nature Labs (India) — as the representative of Pakistan asked for details regarding health-care projects the organization undertook over the last three years;

Samajik Yuva Sangthan Sansthan (India) — as the representative of Pakistan asked for details on any platform the organization has built for youth;

Sri Sharada Institute of Indian Management Research Foundation (India) — as the representative of Pakistan asked for a financial statement for 2021-2022;

Water, Environment and Sanitation Society – WESS (Pakistan) — as the representative of Pakistan asked for a breakdown of the funding the organization receives from international organizations;

Youth Parli of Pakistan (YPP) (Pakistan) — as the representative of Pakistan asked for details of scholarships the organization arranged for students over the last three years;

A.D.A.M. (Association d'aide aux migrants) (France) — as the representative of Algeria asked for details regarding its membership categories;

Association Des Juristes Specialises En Droits Etrangers (France) - as the representative of Algeria asked for details on the international scope of its activities;

Association Femmes Solidaires (AFS) (France) — as the representative of Türkiye asked for information regarding the nature of its registration;

Best Practices Policy Project, Inc. (United States) — as the representative of Bahrain asked for details regarding its contractual relationship with grantors;

Canadian Lutheran World Relief (Canada) — as the representative of China asked for details regarding certain projects for which the organization received funding from Government agencies;

Centro Intercultural de Estudios de Desiertos y Océanos A.C (Mexico) — as the representative of Türkiye asked how the organization is able to operate under a financial deficit;

Coalition pour l'abolition de la prostitution (CAP) (France) — as the representative of Nicaragua asked for a list of the projects it implemented in 2021-2022;

Feminist Legal Clinic Inc. (Australia) — as the representative of Türkiye asked for details regarding a certain database maintained by the organization;

Fondazione Pangea ONLUS (Italy) — as the representative of Türkiye asked for a breakdown of its main private-sector donors;

Georgian academy of criminology sciences (Georgia) — as the representative of the United States asked for details regarding funding it received from a certain organization;

International Cultural Diversity Organization (Austria) — as the representative of Algeria asked how the organization has financed its activities since 2019;

Khalsa Aid International (United Kingdom) — as the representative of Pakistan asked for details regarding the local and international partners with which it works on health projects;

Kite Oxford (United Kingdom) — as the representative of Algeria asked for a summary of the projects it undertook over the last two years;

Moscow Helsinki Group (Russian Federation) — as the representative of Cuba asked the organization to clearly indicate the amount it receives from the Potanin Foundation;

Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute (United States) — as the representative of Bahrain asked the organization how it intends to contribute to the work of the Economic and Social Council if it is granted consultative status;

Southern Poverty Law Center, Inc. (United States) — as the representative of China asked for information regarding its international cooperation;

Stichting Mideast Youth (Netherlands) — as the representative of Algeria asked for information regarding its relationship with the Government;

Stichting Volunteer Activists (Netherlands) — as the representative of Türkiye asked for details regarding a certain handbook developed by the organization;

Stichting White Helmets Foundation (Netherlands) — as the representative of Cuba asked for a breakdown of the funding for each of its projects;

TMG Research gGmbH (Germany) — as the representative of Nicaragua asked for information regarding how it guarantees its independence in light of Government funding;

The Global Imams Council (Australia) — as the representative of Algeria asked for details regarding its philanthropic funding;

The VII Foundation Inc. (United States) — as the representative of Cuba asked how it preserves its independence in light of private-sector funding;

Öz Gida Sanayi Ve Yardimci İşçileri Sendikasi (Türkiye) — as the representative of Armenia asked for information on specific projects it implemented with foreign organizations;

Al-Quds University (State of Palestine) — as the representative of Israel asked for a list of the organizations from which it receives funding;

Colegio Colombiano de Psicólogos (Colombia) — as the representative of China asked the organization to correct its website to use United Nations terminology for “Taiwan” and “Hong Kong”;

Leaders club de développement des compétences de la vie (Morocco) — as the representative of Algeria asked for more information regarding its financial-transparency policies;

MENA Rights Group (Switzerland) — as the representative of Israel asked for a full list of donors;

Protection International (Belgium) — as the representative of Cuba asked how the organization preserves its independence from the Governments with which it works;

Stichting InterNations Exchange (Netherlands) — as the representative of China asked for information regarding certain training workshops held by the organization;

Suomalaiset kehitysjärjestöt - Finnish Development NGOs Fingo (Finland) — as the representative of Türkiye asked how the organization ensures its institutional independence;

“The Awakening” A Society for Social & Cultural Development (Pakistan) — as the representative of Pakistan requested details on the organization’s work in the area of good governance;

Asociación Civil Grupo SURES (Venezuela) — as the representative of the United States asked the group to provide a list of meetings it has attended under the auspices of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and contributions made to the latter;

Association Achbal Maroc culturelle et artistique (Morocco) — as the representative of Algeria asked it to further elaborate on its relationship with other non-governmental organizations that provide it with funding;

Association de la femme saharienne pour le développement intégré (Morocco) — as the representative of Algeria asked the organization to provide details about its cooperation agreements with local authorities;

Association for Social Solidarity and Empowerment Training Trust (India) — as the representative of India noted that the organization mentioned having mobilized 10 million Indian rupees in its application, and requested details on the sources of that funding;

Belarusian Fund of Peace (Belarus) — as the representative of the United States requested more information on the type of care provided to veterans, orphans and other specific groups mentioned in the organization’s application;

Centre for Participatory Democracy (India) — as the representative of India said the organization has not yet responded to specific questions posed to it by the Committee, including about such details as the venues of its ground-level activities;

Direct Focus Community Aid (Pakistan) — as the representative of India asked the organization to clarify why no activities are listed in its website’s “upcoming events” section;

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam International Foundation (India) — as the representative of China asked for more examples of concrete projects in support of the group’s stated mission, and how they contribute to the work of the Economic and Social Council;

Fundación Ciudadanía y Desarrollo (Ecuador) — as the representative of Cuba asked which international organizations provide the group’s funding, and how the latter is able to maintain its independence;

General Union of Arab Experts (Morocco) — as the representative of Bahrain noted the organization’s significant expenses and requested detailed financial statements for the years 2020, 2021 and 2022;

Girija Prasad Koirala Foundation for Democracy Peace and Development (Nepal) — as the representative of India asked the organization to provide details about projects partially funded by the Government;

Human Rights Initiative (India) — as the representative of India said the organization has not yet provided detailed information on its projects and programmes, as requested by the Committee, and requested it to do so;

Human Rights Protection Group and MFP Federation (India) — as the representative of India requested a breakdown of the 1,556 calls it reported having received;

International Human Right Organization (Pakistan) — as the representative of Pakistan requested information on any activities undertaken by the organization in the area of “advocacy for accountability”;

PAY-W Clinic (India) — as the representative of India asked for details about the cancer and palliative care services provided by the group — through web-based interfaces in and cooperation with hospitals — as well as about any services provided in foreign countries;

Peace Justice Humanity and Relief Foundation (India) — as the representative of India requested a set of completed reports from the organization;

Public Association “Regional Consumer Protection Society” (Belarus) — as the representative of the United States asked the organization to provide examples of projects conducted in 2022, along with their beneficiaries and funding sources;

Solidariteit/Solidarity (South Africa) — as the representative of Algeria asked the organization to provide more details about its legal fund, including recent examples of activities it has undertaken;

Tamdeen Youth Foundation (Yemen) — as the representative of India requested the organization to provide additional information about its “localization initiative”;

Welfare Association Jared (Pakistan) — as the representative of India asked for details about two of the group’s projects, namely those focusing on “women’s enjoyment of rights empowerment and leadership” and “electoral equality and inclusiveness”;

Yadam Institute of Research (India) — as the representative of Pakistan asked the organization to provide details on any advocacy and awareness-raising activities carried out in the last two years, and the representative of China asked for more information about the group’s human rights literacy workshops, as well as about those workshops’ sources of funding;

ARCS Arci Culture Solidali APS (Italy) — as the representative of Türkiye asked for details about the organization’s unspent resources;

All Survivors Project Foundation (Liechtenstein) — as the representative of Nicaragua asked the organization to provide audited financial reports for the last three years;

Association of Non-for-Profit Organizations to Facilitate the Drug Prevention and Socially Dangerous Behaviour “National Anti-Drug Union” (Russian Federation) — as the representative of the United States asked, if the group is accredited, which United Nations bodies, meetings and conferences does it expect to participate in, and what contributions does it hope to make;

Ceasefire Centre for Civilian Rights (United Kingdom) — as the representative of Eritrea asked for more information about the group’s members and how it is able to conduct its activities without any members on the ground in countries where it works;

Center for Military Human Rights Korea (Republic of Korea) — as the representative of China asked the organization to provide more details about the funding received from the Open Society Foundation in 2019 and 2020;

Coppieters Foundation (Belgium) — as the representative of Türkiye asked the organization to clarify the difference between its full members and associate members;

Den Norske Helsingforskomité (Norway)— as the representative of Cuba asked for clarification regarding funding received from international organizations;

Global Alumni Alliance (Russian Federation) — as the representative of the United Kingdom asked how the organization is able to guarantee its independence from the Government;

Human Rights Activists (United States) — as the representative of Pakistan asked for details about projects undertaken to promote economic, social and cultural rights;

Ilankai Thamil Sangam, Inc. (United States) — as the representative of Nicaragua asked for more details regarding its activities for the promotion of Thamil culture, language and music in the United States;

International Human Rights Commission La Commission Internationale des Droits de l'homme Mezinárodní komise pro lidská práva - nadační fond, ve zkrácené formě IHRC - nadační fond (Czech Republic) — as the representative of Armenia asked for more information about its legal status and funding as an intergovernmental foundation;

International Society of Criminology (United States) — as the representative of China asked if it had any overseas offices;

International Youth Federation (United Kingdom) — as the representative of Algeria asked for further information about activities in member countries;

Luftbrücke Irak e.V. (Germany) — as the representative of Türkiye asked for its cooperation with the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women);

Magistrats Europeens pour la Democratie et les Libertes (MEDEL) (Germany) — as the representative of Türkiye asked about its annual meetings and how they are funded;

Merciful Souls (Al-Qolub Al-Rahima) (R/A) (Israel) — as the representative of China asked about examples of its innovative approaches to humanitarian relief;

NTC-Hands off Cain (Italy) — as the representative of Pakistan asked for details of its advocacy programmes and names of the countries in which they were conducted;

Peace Without Limits (PWL) International Organization, Inc. (Switzerland) — as the representative of Türkiye asked for information on specific projects as well as their outcome;

SAM pour les droits et les libertés (Switzerland) — as the representative of Algeria asked for further information about the nature of its relationship with volunteers;

Syrian Legal Development Programme (United Kingdom) — as the representative of Cuba asked for clarification on one of its programmes;

The Center for Justice and Accountability (United States) — as the representative of China asked about how it used funds received; and

Österreichischer Rat Für Nachhaltige Entwicklung - Österreichischer Nachhaltigkeitsrat für soziale, ökologische und ökonomische Angelegenheiten (Austria) — as the representative of Israel asked about its opinions and recommendations commissioned by the Economic and Social Council.

The Committee also discussed procedures regarding the timeline for reviewing responses from non-governmental organizations.