4 Ecosoc

Dr. Y R S Murthy

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Table of Contents

1. Learning Outcomes

2. Introduction

3. The Mandate of the Council

3.1 Relationship with General Assembly

4. Composition of the Council:

4.1 ECOSOC’s Functional Commissions

4.2 Five Regional Economic Commissions founded by ECOSOC

5. Voting, election and Governance of Council

6. Powers and Functions of ECOSOC

7. Non-Governmental Organizations and ECOSOC

8. Prominent ECOSOC Resolutions on Human Rights

8.1 ECOSOC Resolution of 1235 (XLII) of 6 June 1967

8.2 ECOSOC Resolution 1503 (XLVIII) Of 27 May 1970

9. Achievements of the Council

9.1 Reform of Council

10 Recent activities of Council

10.1 2005 WORLD SUMMIT

10.2 Development Cooperation Forum (DCF)

10.3 Annual Ministerial Review (AMR)

11. Critique of ECOSOC

 

1. Learning Outcomes

  • To give students an understanding of mandate of United Nations Economic and Social Council in general and in particular, those relating to the protection and promotion of human rights.
  • By the end of the lecture, students will have an understanding of the role of ECOSOC in the protection and promotion of human rights.

2. Introduction

UNITED NATIONS

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL

The Charter of the United Nations was signed by 51 founding Member States on 26 June 1946 and officially entered into force on 24 October 1946. The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) with its headquarters at New York. It addresses economic, social, and cultural issues. Besides ECOSOC, other principal organs of UN are the General Assembly (GA), the Security Council (SC), the International Court of Justice, the Secretariat, and the Trusteeship Council.

Source: United Nations

http://www.un.org/en/aboutun/structure/pdfs/UN%20system%20chart_lettercolor_2013.pdf

The Council’s origins can be traced to proposals drawn up in 1939 under the League of Nations. In response to the success of the League’s technical activities in the economic and social fields, in contrast to the relative failure of its political endeavours, a League Committee, known as the Bruce Committee named after its Chairman, proposed the establishment of a ‘Central Committee for Economic and Social Questions’. It was envisaged that one-fourth of the composition of that Committee would consist of independent experts.’ Although the proposal was shelved for the duration of the War, it is clear from the Charter, and confirmed by reports of the proceedings of the founding conferences at Dumbarton Oaks in 1944 and San Francisco in 1945, that there was a determination to make the ECOSOC the decisive body in its field. This is clearly confirmed by the extent of the explicit powers given to it under the Charter.

As per Article 45 of the Charter, the Council is responsible for promoting:

  1. Higher standards of living, full employment, and conditions of economic and social progress and development;
  2. Solutions of international economic, social, health and related problems, and international cultural and educational cooperation;
  3. Universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race sex, language and religion.

The Mandate of the Council

ECOSOC’s mandate is based upon the UN Charter. Chapter X of the UN Charter (Articles 61-72) outlines ECOSOC’s composition, functions, powers, and working procedure. Chapter IX

(Articles 55-60) confers further responsibilities, which are directly relevant to human rights. By Article 60, responsibility for the discharge of these functions is vested in the General Assembly and, under its authority, in the Council.

United Nations charter requires it to promote International economic and social co-operation.

Article 55 of the UN Charter explains this goal in the following words:

With a view to the creation of conditions of stability and well being which are necessary for peaceful and friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, the United Nations shall promote:

  1. Higher standards of living, full employment, and conditions of economic and social progress and development;
  2. Solutions of international economic, social, health, and related problems; and international cultural and educational cooperation; and
  3. Universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.

Thus, Article 55(c) of the UN Charter requires the UN, and by implication all its principal organs, to promote universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all.

Article 56 of UN Charter stipulates that:

All Members pledge themselves to take joint and separate action in cooperation with the Organization for the achievement of the purposes set forth in Article 55. The ambit of such individual and joint action covers human rights issues under 55(c) of UN Charter.

Figure: Depicting various areas of Council’s Mandate; Source: https://witnewyork.wordpress.com/2014/07/09/ecosoc-high-level-segment-week-opened/

The mandate of the Council is broad and encompasses many of the UN system’s key priorities.

Mandate of ECOSOC under Art. 62 can be defined as follows:

  1. The Economic and Social Council may make or initiate studies and reports with respect to international economic, social, cultural, educational, health, and related matters and may make recommendations with respect to any such matters to the General Assembly, to the Members of the United Nations, and to the specialized agencies concerned.
  2. It may make recommendations for the purpose of promoting respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all.
  3. It may prepare draft conventions for submission to the General Assembly, with respect to matters falling within its competence.
  4. It may call, in accordance with the rules prescribed by the United Nations, international conferences on matters falling within its competence.

In other words, UN Charter stipulates that ECOSOC shall make recommendations on human rights, draft conventions and call conferences. All these functions are highly relevant for human rights.

Article 64 of the UN Charter explains ECOSOC’s mandate in the following words:

  1. The Economic and Social Council may take appropriate steps to obtain regular reports from the specialized agencies. It may make arrangements with the Members of the United Nations and with the specialized agencies to obtain reports on the steps taken to give effect to its own recommendations and to recommendations on matters falling within its competence made by the General Assembly.
  2. It may communicate its observations on these reports to the General Assembly.

Article 68 of the UN Charter outlines mandate of ECOSOC as follows:

The Economic and Social Council shall set up commissions in economic and social fields and for the promotion of human rights, and such other commissions as may be required for the performance of its functions.

In pursuance, the ECOSOC has established the Commission on Human Rights and Commission on the Status of Women in 1946. Both these Commissions did a significant work in the field of human rights.

The Council’s purpose within the UN, as laid out in Chapter X of the Charter, Articles 62-66, is to act as a mediator between UN entities and as a forum for deliberations concerning the improvement of these entities’ operations. ECOSOC further calls attention to pressing issues relating to economic and social development, health, education, and culture by making policy recommendations to other UN bodies, like the General Assembly, by initiating and conducting studies and by calling for international conferences. In an effort to refocus the Council and make it more responsive and action-oriented, the outcome of the 2005 World Summit established two additional mechanisms, the Annual Ministerial Review (AMR) and the Development Cooperation Forum, with the goal of enhancing the coherence and effectiveness of the way in which the United Nations reviews and advances development-focused policies.

3.1 Relationship with General Assembly

Article 13 of the UN Charter explains the relationship between the ECOSOC and General Assembly in the following words:

The General Assembly shall initiate studies and make recommendations for the purpose of:

  1. promoting international co-operation in the political field and encouraging the progressive development of international law and its codification;
  2. promoting international co-operation in the economic, social, cultural, educational, and health fields, and assisting in the realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.

The founders of the UN foresaw an important role for the Council and gave it considerable powers in the UN Charter, among others, to make or initiate studies and reports and to make recommendations to the General Assembly, Member States, and the Specialized Agencies; to prepare draft conventions for submission to the General Assembly and call international conferences; subject to the General Assembly’s approval, to enter into agreement with any of the specialized agencies defining the terms in which the agency concerned should be brought into relationship with the United Nations; to co-ordinate the activities of the specialized agencies through consultation with and recommendations to such agencies and through recommendations to the General Assembly and to the members of the United Nations; to furnish information to, and, upon request, assist, the Security Council. (Article 63-66 UN Charter)

4. Composition of the Council

The Council’s 54 member Governments are elected by the General assembly. As mentioned in Article 61 of the UN charter, the Economic and Social Council consists of fifty-four Members of the United Nations elected by the General Assembly. Eighteen members of the Economic and Social Council are elected each year for a term of three years. A retiring member shall be eligible for immediate re-election.

ECOSOC indirectly has purview over around 70% of UN resources through its oversight of fourteen specialized agencies and thirteen functional and regional commissions. For these reasons, ECOSOC Plenary’s membership is highly sought after given its central coordinating work of dozens of entities within the UN system. Besides members, there has been a major increase in the size of a number of subsidiary bodies, notably the Commission on Human Rights, which had fifty-three seats. Recently, there have been proposals, not yet generally acceptable; to increase the size of the Council and even make it a body of universal membership. While the resolution adopted by the General Assembly in May 1991 seemed to imply that the Council’s size would not be enlarged, it left open the possibility of a changed geographical allocation of seats.

ECOSOC is responsible for coordinating the economic, social and related work of UN specialized agencies, their functional commissions and five regional commissions. The Council works through several Commissions, Standing Committees, ad hoc Committees, and Special Bodies.

The Commissions are of two types: functional and regional.

4.1 ECOSOC’s Functional Commissions:

ECOSOC has created a number of commissions and specialist committees and appointed various expert bodies to assist it in the discharge of its broad range of functions. At present ECOSOC have 9 functional commissions, many of which may impact on human rights.

Some of the Functional Commissions of ECOSOC (2009) are

  • Statistical Commission
  • Commission on Population and Development
  • Commission for Social Development
  • Commission on the Status of Women
  • Commission on Narcotic Drugs
  • Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice
  • Commission on Science and Technology for development
  • Commission on Sustainable Development
  • United Nations Forum on Forests

Many of these functional commissions impact human rights but in particular Commission for Social Development, Commission on the Status of Women, and Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice have played prominent role in advancing human rights. Before 2006, there was a Commission on Human Rights. This ceased operation and its workload is now passed to human rights council.

4.2 Five Regional Economic Commissions founded by ECOSOC are as follows:-

  1. ECE (Economic Commission for Europe) based in Geneva.
  2. ESCAP (Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific) located in Bangkok, capital of Thailand
  3. EC LA (Economic Commission for Latin America) located in Santiago, the capital of Chile.
  4. ECA (Economic Commission for Africa) based in Addis Ababa; and
  5. ECWA (Economic Commission for Western Asia) situated in Baghdad, capital of Iraq.

The ECOSOC has established a number of Expert bodies composed of members serving in their personal capacity. They include, among others, Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, both of which relate to human rights.

The ECOSOC holds one four-week session each year in July. Since 1998, it has also held a meeting each April with finance ministers heading key committees of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

 

 

5. Voting, election and Governance of Council

ECOSOC election procedures follow the General Assembly’s Rules of Procedure. Election requires a two-thirds majority and the largest number of votes. Members hold staggered terms of three years, and membership can be renewed immediately after it expires on December 31. Each member has one representative and one vote in the Council. All decisions are made by a simple majority of those members present and voting.

Due to membership being renewable immediately after each term expires, with no limits, some states effectively have been able to hold near-permanent membership on the Council. However, unlike the Security Council, there was no provision made for permanent membership of the Council. In effect, however, the United States, the former Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, France, and China are permanent members by repeated election. Other economic powers such as Japan and Germany are frequent members. This pattern reflects the importance of these countries and a general recognition that they should be represented on the Council.

It is important to note that to an extent the ease of election is due to a lack of interest in the Council as compared to other bodies, such as the Governing Body of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and even a lack of interest compared to certain of the Commission’s subsidiary bodies. The competition of States for election to bodies such as the Commission on Human Rights, the Commission on the Status of Women, and the Commission on Narcotic Drugs is much more intense than that for election to the Council itself. A measure of the intensity is that in recent years permanent members of the Security Council have all lost such elections (e.g. the United States for the Statistical Commission, France and the United Kingdom for the Commission on Human Rights).

An important reason, therefore, for seeking election to the Council itself is the opportunity to influence election to the subsidiary bodies and to the major associated bodies such as UNDP and the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) by use of the vote conferred by membership. Council members tend to trade votes in order to help each other, although not in all circumstances.

With a total of 54 members, 18 seats are either renewed or newly elected each year according to geographical representation, as follows:

Regional Distribution of Seats

Some Member States also serve on ECOSOC’s array of commissions; they are elected by ECOSOC for three- or four-year terms.

By adopting Resolution 45/264 (1991), the UN General Assembly decided that ECOSOC would hold one substantive session per year taking place between May and July, alternating between New York and Geneva. The Council typically holds two annual sessions, consisting of an organizational session when elections to the Bureau take place, and a substantive session. The Bureau provides a leadership role within ECOSOC. It consists of five representatives, the President and four Vice-Presidents, who are elected to one-year terms at the outset of each annual session by the entire fifty-four member Council. The Bureau assumes responsibility for setting the Council’s agenda, devising an action plan, and collaborating with the Secretariat on administrative duties. Bureau membership rotates equally among regional blocs. The current president of ECOSOC is Miloš Koterec. He was elected on 10 January 2012 and is the current and permanent representative of the Slovak Republic to the United Nations in New York.

Moreover, the session was divided into five segments. While the High-Level segment is the main segment, the other segments serve as fora where the topics to be discussed are determined by the name of the segment. The Coordination segment addresses topics covering the question how the UN may develop more comprehensive and integrated approaches. The Operational Activities segment deals with technical issues, e.g. the oversight of the funds and programs. The Humanitarian Affairs Segment is a forum for debate on humanitarian issues. The General Segment covers topics that do not fall under the competence of the other segments, such as special or regional issues.

Powers and Functions of ECOSOC

  • To serve as the central forum for the discussion of international economic and social issues of a global or an inter-disciplinary nature and
  • The formulation of policy recommendations addressed to Member States and to the United Nations system as a whole;
  • To promote respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all;
  • To make or initiate studies and reports and make recommendations on international economic, social, cultural, educational, health and related matters;
  • To call international conferences and prepare draft conventions for submission to the UNGA on matters falling within its competence;
  • To make recommendations and to co-ordinate activities of specialized agencies;
  • Co-ordinate, rationalize and, to some extent, programme the activities of the UN, its autonomous organs and the specialized agencies in all of these sectors through consultations with and recommendations to the UNGA and members of the UN.
  • To consult with NGOs concerned with matters falling within the Council’s competence.

ECOSOC generally holds one five to six-week substantive session each year, alternating between New York and Geneva, and one organizational session in New York. The substantive session includes a high-level special meeting, attended by Ministers and other high officials, to discuss major economic and social issues.

The year-round work of the Council is carried out in its subsidiary bodies, commissions and committees, which meet at regular intervals and report back to the Council.

 

7. Non-Governmental Organizations and ECOSOC

Article 71 of the UN Charter allows the ECOSOC to take consultation from NGO’s in vague terms ‘suitable arrangements’. ECOSOC Resolution 1296 (XLIV) (1968) allows the Council to establish three categories of consultation for NGO. Category I organizations are the major ones and those which have an interest in a number of areas. Category II includes those, which have an interest in specific aspects of the Council’s work and are (or were) reasonably well known. The third group is called the Roster and includes NGOs with very limited interests or no proven record. All categories may send representatives to public meetings of the Council and its subsidiary bodies. Categories II and I may submit written statements for circulation to Members of the Council and Category I may make oral presentations as of right. NGOs on the Roster are not excluded from being read or heard, but they must receive a Council invitation for each debate. Promotion and demotion is possible within the system of categories. The Council’s Committee for NGO’s work closely with all the three categories. The Committee meets every second year and is currently composed of representatives of nineteen States.

8 Prominent ECOSOC Resolutions on Human Rights

8.1 ECOSOC RESOLUTION OF 1235 (XLII) OF 6 JUNE 1967

It was created to allow discussions on human rights situations in all countries and was used to undermine the ‘no power to take action’ doctrine. Under this resolution, first procedure for examining human rights complaints was established. Before that, the Human Rights Commission held the view that regardless of thousands of human rights complaints/communications it received on behalf of various NGOs or from victims, according to UN charter it had no power to take relevant steps. The commission’s politics on South Africa’s Apartheid played a major role in passing this resolution.

It provided a basis for public discussion and examination of gross and systematic human rights violations in all states of the world. With this examination, the Commission was also empowered to make through studies of situations, which reveal a consistent pattern of human rights violations, and to report these to ECOSOC with relevant recommendations. This authorization to make studies provides the legal basis for appointing country-specific and thematic working groups and special rapporteurs who proved to be Commission’s most effective remedies. The authorization to examine, however, does not cover individual cases, but general situations of gross and systematic human rights violations only.

It is interesting to note that the governments concerned will do everything in their power not to be put on the ‘black list’ of countries investigated under the 1235 procedure. Powerful states like China and Russia in particular, by exerting the necessary diplomatic and political pressure on member states, have so far successfully averted an adverse action by the Commission. Time and again, the UN has been accused of applying double standards and of openly criticizing only smaller states for their human rights violations.

 

ECOSOC RESOLUTION OF 1235 (XLII) OF 6 JUNE 1967

 

What does 1235 procedure involve?

  • Examination of information relevant to systematic human rights violations in public sessions
  • Thorough study of

8.2 ECOSOC RESOLUTION 1503 (XLVIII) OF 27 MAY 1970

The adoption of this Resolution leads to introduction of a confidential procedure for examining communications of concrete human rights violations. It was considered a big success, particularly by NGO’s, as it opened up new ways of having their communications examined in a formal procedure, including those against states who have not ratified a human rights treaty. But with time the public procedure developed rapidly and there were increasing possibilities to bring complaints before independent monitoring bodies. This strictly confidential, highly complicated and time consuming procedure lost much of its significance. Up until the year 2000, the 1503 procedure included the full Sub-Commission and was even more complex and time-consuming.

 

ECOSOC RESOLUTION 1503 (XLVIII) OF 27 MAY 1970 as revised by

ECOSOC Resolution 2000/3 of 16 June 2000

 

What does 1503 procedure involve?

  • Communications by victims, other persons or NGOs may be addressed to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva. In UN terminology, complaints are referred to as communications’.
  • Secretariat eliminates manifestly ill-founded communications
  • Confidential procedure.

See Novak,

9. Achievements of the Council

Figure: New York Chamber of ECOSOC, a gift from Sweden, was originally designed by famed Swedish architect Svem Markelius. Renovated in 2013, the Chamber features the new curtain ‘Diaologos’ by Ann Edholm., http://www.un.org/en/ecosoc/about/

Between 1946 and 1948, the ECOSOC took a number of key institutional decisions regarding human rights. In 1946, pursuant to Article 68 of the Charter, it established the Commission on Human Rights, whose first priority was to elaborate an international bill of rights. ECOSOC has addressed a variety of other problems, including genocide, prevention of statelessness, discrimination, protection of minorities, the organization of the 1948 conference on Freedom of Information, the establishment of the Yearbook on human rights and, in cooperation with the ILO, the protection of the right to form trade unions and the prevention of forced labor.

10. Reform of Council:

There are plans for strengthening of ECOSOC. While noting the work of the Council, a former secretary-general considered five areas which require consideration: integrating, reviewing and implementing the development agenda; reviewing trends in international development cooperation; addressing economic and social challenges; monitoring and addressing economic and social dimensions of conflicts and asserting its leadership in driving a global development agenda.

11. Activities of Council:

Figure: Depicting ECOSOC’s Role in promoting women education and promoting gender equality Source ECOSOC Wensite

“Between 1946 and 1948, the Council took a number of key institutional decisions concerning human rights. In 1946, pursuant to Article 68 of the UN Charter, it established the Commission on Human Rights, whose first priority was to elaborate an international bill of human rights.

That same year, responsibility for issues concerning the status and rights of women, which initially was assigned to a sub- commission of experts, was transferred to an intergovernmental Commission, that reports directly to the Council.”

The Economic and Social Council has also addressed a variety of other problems, including genocide, prevention of statelessness, discrimination, protection of minorities, the organization of the 1948 Conference on Freedom of Information, the establishment of the Yearbook on Human Rights and, in cooperation with the International Labour Organization (ILO), the protection of the right to form trade unions and prevention of forced labour.”

11.1 2005 WORLD SUMMIT

One of the most notable and important documents for the work of ECOSOC is the 2005 World Summit Outcome. The World Summit took place on the 14 – 16 September 2005 in New York City. It was the High-Level Plenary Meeting of the 60th Session of the UN General Assembly and a follow-up meeting of the 2000 Millennium Summit. At this meeting the concept of the “Responsibility to Protect” was discussed and initiated. The World Summit Outcome is also the fundamental basis for new mechanisms and concepts that concern ECOSOC, such as the Development Cooperation Forum (DCF) and the Annual Ministerial Review (AMR). Both are part of the High Level segment of ECOSOC. Another item of significance on ECOSOC’s agenda is the realization of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). These are to be reached by 2015 and are concerning all UN bodies, thus including ECOSOC. The eight MDGs are defining benchmarks to be reached in a number of diverse issues, e.g. universal primary education (MDG 2), gender equality (MDG 3), and combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases (MDG 6). Each of these MDGs corresponds to human rights enshrined in core international human rights treaties. The Council’s mandate stretches across the sectors of health, education, culture and development, making it especially important for the body to narrow its focus each year by converging on sub-topics or themes taken from the MDGs.

Looking at the High-level Segment Programme for the Annual ECOSOC Substantive Session gives a clear picture of ECOSOC’s current agenda. The Council devotes much of the year to preparing for the AMR and thematic discussion, both prominent agenda items in the High-Level segment. The title of the 2013 AMR was “Science, technology and innovation (STI), and the potential of culture, for promoting sustainable development and achieving the MDGs.” By focusing on STI, ECOSOC seeks to achieve global sustainable development and the implementation of MDGs, and to encourage national and international actors to infuse their resources into the expansion of STI. While the MDGs have guided the work of the Council and other UN bodies since their inception at the Millennium Summit in 2000, the 2015 deadline approaches and a new framework is needed to continue combating poverty, strengthening education, ensuring gender equality, promoting health, environmental sustainability and fostering a global partnership for development. In anticipation, ECOSOC has committed to taking a leading role in the evolution and execution of the post-2015 development agenda. In fact, it was the thematic discussion topic at the ECOSOC’s Substantive Session, held in July 2013 in Geneva, Switzerland. ECOSOC attempts to extend the agenda beyond the MDGs to sustainable development in its fourth biannual DCF (July 2014). Through DCF, international representatives from government, academia and civil society are currently collaborating to define a new global development partnership and a system for overseeing it in the post-MDG world.

11.2 Development Cooperation Forum (DCF)

According to the 2005 World Summit Outcome, General Assembly Resolution 60/1 (2005), the DCF is structured to promote greater coherence among the development activities of different development partners. Consequently, it can be seen as an advisory board that is structured around five themes, which are promoting greater coherence; accountable and transparent development cooperation; the role of various forms of cooperation including South- South and triangular cooperation; the impact of multiple crises; and achieving the MDGs by 2015. Additionally, the 2005 World Summit Outcome defines the tasks and responsibilities of the DCF. Hence, ECOSOC is mandated “to convene a biennial high-level DCF that would review trends in international development cooperation, including strategies, policies, and financing.” The first DCF was held in 2008, the second in 2010, and the third took place on 5 and 6 July 2012. All forums have been held in New York City.

11.3 Annual Ministerial Review (AMR) 

As with the DCF, the mandate of the AMR was settled in the 2005 World Summit Outcome; paragraph 155 states that ECOSOC shall “hold annual ministerial-level substantive reviews […]to assess progress, drawing on its functional and regional commissions and other international institutions, in accordance with their respective mandates. The annual meetings are a part of ECOSOC’s High-Level segment and are connected loosely to the eight MDGs. For example, in 2011 the AMR on Education took place under the auspices of UNESCO and ECOSOC and determined five objectives for Member States within the array of education: 1) Provide assessment of the progress of the education-related MDGs; 2) Highlight the strong links between education and the other MDGs; 3) Serve as a catalyst to the realization of the education-related goals; 4) Encourage countries to launch initiatives in support of education; and 5) Achieve broad multi-stakeholder engagement, including regional preparatory meetings.

12 Critique of ECOSOC

“ECOSOC, officially one of the UN’s principal organs, very rapidly became little more than a mailbox between the Assembly and various bodies subsidiary to ECOSOC, transmitting or reaffirming instructions from the Assembly to a proliferation of social and economic agencies. ECOSOC is not, and has never been, a major actor for human rights. The states elected to ECOSOC have taken three decisions of importance since 1945 regarding human rights, one essentially negative and two positive.” First, ECOSOC decided that the members of the UN Human Rights Commission should be state representatives and not independent experts. “This decision put the foxes inside the hen house. Later ECOSOC adopted its resolution 1235, permitting the Commission to take up specific complaints about specific countries. Resolution 1503 was also eventually adopted, permitting the Commission to deal with private petitions indicating a systematic pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.

While ECOSOC resolutions 1235 and 1503 affected considerable diplomacy, they did not lead to sure protection of human rights on the ground.”

“In addition, ECOSOC maintains a committee that decides which non-governmental organizations (NGOs) will be given which category of consultative status with the UN system. The highest status allows NGOs to attend UN meetings and submit documents. Both before and after the Cold War, this committee was the scene of various struggles over human rights NGOs. Certain states that were defensive about human rights matters tried, with periodic success, to deny full status, or sometimes any status, to legitimize human rights NGOs. These problems diminished by the end of the 20th century. Still, in the late 1990s, a western based NGO that has antagonized the Sudanese government and engaged in a controversial policy of buying back hostages taken in Sudan’s long running civil war (such a policy provided money to the fighting parties and led to the retaking of sometimes the same hostages) was denied consultative status.”

Finally, the GA has deprived ECOSOC of further responsibilities in its specific subjects by the creation of programs and funds such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), so that the main operational areas of activity exist in the area of human rights. This is why some have called for the reform of ECOSOC from time to time. Journalist Linda Fasulo presents one alternative view of ECOSOC

“ECOSOC is a key coordinator and mediator among the constituent bodies of the UN system. But it has struggled to find a clear identity among its many functions and as a result has been accused of being unfocused. […] Admittedly, ECOSOC was created to be mainly a deliberative rather than operational body, to help other parts of the UN system examine and shape their programs. In addition to being a forum for discussing international social, economic, and humanitarian issues, it coordinates the work of nearly all UN agencies and bodies concerned with those issues.”

Another proposal is that ECOSOC could become a more important body by working closely together with the Security Council on certain issues. The Stiglitz Commission, on the other hand, suggests replacing it with a completely new body, to be named the Global Economic Coordination Council. These proposals are all part of an ongoing debate about potential reform of the UN.

SUMMARY:

“ The Economic and Social Council, established by the Charter as an intergovernmental body under the authority of the General Assembly, makes studies and recommendations on a broad spectrum of issues, encompassing not only “respect for, and observance of, human rights….for all”, but also “economic, social, cultural, educational, health and related matters.” In addition, it is responsible for the crucial task of coordinating, rationalizing and, to some extent,

programming the activities of the United Nations, its autonomous organs and the specialized agencies in all of these sectors.” “Such an institution, conceived in these terms, represents an innovation vis-a vis the League of Nations, whose economic, social and human rights components were fragmentary and dispersed. Moreover, the Council and its subsidiary bodies provide a forum for the participation of non-governmental organizations in consultative status.

you can view video on Ecosoc

Reference

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  2. Benett, L. A. & James, O. (2002). International Organizations: Principles and Issues 2nd Edition. Upper Saddle river, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
  3. Green, J. (Fall, 1952). ECOSOC: Its Role and Its Achievements. World Affairs, 115(3): 74-76
  4. Karns, M. & Mingst, K. (2004). International Organizations: The politics and Processes of Global Governance.
  5. London: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
  6. NGO Branch, Department of Economic and Social Affairs. (2015). Introduction to ECOSOC Consultative Status. Retrieved April 9, 2015 from http://csonet.org/
  7. United Nations. (2011). United Nations Economic & Social Council. Retrieved August 26, 2011 from http://www.un.org/en/ecosoc/index.shtml.