MELBOURNE,10 December,2022: On 7 Dec., a majority of UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Member States voted to grant consultative status to nine non-governmental organisations (NGOs) seeking access to the United Nations (UN), with 24 for, 17 votes against and 11 abstentions. The NGOs include International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN), whose accreditation had been blocked by India for 15 years. ECOSOC voted on a US draft resolution despite last-minute attempts by China, Russia and India to block the NGOs’ accreditation, reports The Tribune.
The ECOSOC vote overturned the recommendation of the Committee on NGOs, a subsidiary body of ECOSOC made up of 19 Member States and effectively the gatekeeper of civil society participation at the UN. Following a previous vote on the status to these same nine NGOs at its last session in September 2022, a majority of Committee members refused to grant the groups’ request for consultative status.
This ECOSOC vote now means the nine NGOs now have access to the UN and can therefore offer their views to support the UN’s work, including on protecting and promoting human rights. The nine groups are:
- The Gulf Centre for Human Rights
- The International Dalit Solidarity Network
- The Bahrain Center for Human Rights
- Coptic Solidarity
- The Arab-European Center of Human Rights and International Law
- The Andrey Rylkov Foundation for Health and Social Justice
- The World Union of Cossack Atamans
- Man and Law
- World Without Genocide
AP reports: “Louis Charbonneau, U.N. director at the Human Rights Watch, said: “Accrediting these nine groups sends a strong signal to the world that the U.N.’s doors — remain open to civil society organizations, despite efforts by China, Russia, India and others to keep them out.”
