Economic and Social Council

Adopting its 2012 work programme today, the Economic and Social Council approved the organizational arrangements for its substantive session — to be held in New York from 2 to 27 July — setting the stage for discussions at Headquarters on a range of critical themes, from creating decent jobs to assessing the impact of the financial crisis and bolstering development cooperation.

Young people around the world are deeply concerned about a lack of job opportunities and are calling for increased investment in that area, according to the latest World Youth Report, issued today by the United Nations. In the aftermath of the economic crisis, the global youth unemployment rate saw its largest annual increase on record in 2009, resulting in around 75.8 million unemployed youth.

Speakers in the Commission for Social Development stressed today the importance of tackling youth unemployment, which was one of the main drivers of mass protests around the world, affecting both developed and developing countries. While youth had previously been disproportionately affected by unemployment, the current crises and trends had exacerbated the severity of the problem, they said.

Starting the second week of its 2012 substantive session, the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations today recommend special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council for seven organizations, and roster status for another, while postponing consideration of 20 other applications, pending receipt of additional information from the civil society groups.

Sidelined for too long, the rights of people with disabilities must be fully integrated into the development policy road maps to be hammered out at the upcoming United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development and at next year’s General Assembly High-level Meeting on Disability and Development, Shuaib Chalklen, Special Rapporteur on Disability, told the Commission for Social Development today.

The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) today recommended special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council for four organizations and general consultative status for two others, while postponing consideration of 16 other applications pending receipt of additional information from the civil society groups.

Decent and productive employment — coupled with safety nets for protecting the most vulnerable — should be at the core of efforts to eradicate poverty, speakers said today as the Commission for Social Development continued its general debate, while warning that global economic woes now threatened the very existence of such initiatives.

The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations today continued the process of vetting the dozens of applications before it, recommending special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council for 26 organizations which had been deferred from previous sessions owing to questions posed by the 19-member body.

As the gap between rich and poor widened and one third of the global workforce remained either unemployed or mired in poverty, the international community must ramp up action to create jobs, ensure social protection and foster economic recovery, Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro told the Commission for Social Development as it opened its fiftieth session today.

The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations continued its consideration of new applications for consultative status with the Economic and Social Council today, recommending 15 more non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for special consultative status and postponing consideration of 45, owing to probes ranging from the political aspects underpinning a humanitarian organization’s work to how another monitored cases of international law violations and war crimes.