United Nations Economic and Social Council

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Conseil économique et social des Nations unies
Established1945; 79 years ago (1945)
TypePrimary organ
Legal statusActive
Websitewww.un.org/en/ecosoc

The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC; French: Conseil économique et social des Nations unies, CESNU) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations, responsible for coordinating the economic, social, and related work of 15 UN specialized agencies, their functional commissions and five regional commissions. The ECOSOC has 54 members. It holds one four-week session each year in July, and since 1998, it has also held an annual meeting in April with finance ministers heading key committees of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

ECOSOC serves as the central forum for discussing international economic and social issues and formulating policy recommendations addressed to member states and the United Nations system.[2] A number of non-governmental organisations have been granted consultative status to the Council to participate in the work of the United Nations.

President

The president is elected for a one-year term and chosen from the small or mid-sized powers represented on the ECOSOC.[1] Her Excellency Marie Chatardová was elected seventy-third President of the Economic and Social Council on 27 July 2017. Ambassador Chatardová is currently the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic to the United Nations in New York.

Presidents
Term President From
2017 Mrs. Marie Chatardová  Czech Republic
2016 Mr. Frederick Musiiwa Makamure Shava  Zimbabwe
2015 Mr. Oh Joon  South Korea
2014 Mr. Martin Sajdik  Austria
2013 Mr. Néstor Osorio Londoño  Colombia
2012 Mr. Miloš Koterec  Slovakia
2011 Mr. Lazarous Kapambwe  Zambia
2010 Mr. Hamidon Ali  Malaysia
2009 Ms. Sylvie Lucas  Luxembourg
2008 Mr. Léo Mérorès  Haiti
2007 Mr. Dalius Čekuolis  Lithuania
2006 Mr. Ali Hachani  Tunisia
2005 Mr. Munir Akram  Pakistan

Members

See also: List of members of the United Nations Economic and Social Council

The Council has 54 member states out of the 193 UN member states, which are elected by the United Nations General Assembly for overlapping three-year terms. Seats on the Council are based on geographical representation with 14 allocated to African states, 11to Asia-Pacific states, 6 to East European states, 10 to Latin American and Caribbean states and 13 to West European and other states.

Term African States (14) Asian States (11) Eastern European
States (6) 		Latin American &
Caribbean States (10) 		Western European &
Other States (13)
2018-20[3]  Ghana
 Malawi
 Morocco
 Sudan
 Togo 		 India
 Japan
 Philippines 		 Belarus  Ecuador
 El Salvador
 Mexico
 Uruguay 		 France
 Germany
 Ireland
 Spain
 Turkey
2017-19[4]  Benin
 Cameroon
 Chad
 Swaziland 		 China
 South Korea
 Tajikistan
 United Arab Emirates 		 Azerbaijan
 Russia
 Bosnia and Herzegovina 		 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
 Colombia
 Venezuela 		 Norway
 Sweden
 Andorra
 United Kingdom
2016-18  Algeria
 Somalia
 South Africa
 Rwanda
 Nigeria 		 Afghanistan
 Lebanon
 Iraq
 Vietnam 		 Moldova
 Czech Republic 		 Chile
 Guyana
 Peru 		 Australia
 Italy
 Belgium
 United States
2015-17  Burkina Faso
 Ghana
 Mauritania
 Uganda
 Zimbabwe 		 India
 Japan
 Pakistan 		 Estonia  Argentina
 Brazil
 Honduras
 Trinidad and Tobago 		 France
 Germany
 Greece
 Portugal
2014-16  Botswana
 Congo
 Congo DR
 Togo 		 Bangladesh
 China
 South Korea
 Kazakhstan 		 Georgia
 Russia
 Serbia 		 Antigua and Barbuda
 Guatemala
 Panama 		 Finland
 Sweden
  Switzerland
 United Kingdom
2013-15  Tunisia
 Benin
 Mauritius
 South Africa
 Sudan 		 Kuwait
 Kyrgyzstan
   Nepal
 Turkmenistan 		 Albania
 Croatia 		 Bolivia
 Colombia
 Haiti 		 Australia
 United States
 Italy
 San Marino
Before 2013  Botswana'  Bangladesh'  Albania  Antigua and Barbuda'  Austria
 Benin  China  Belarus  Bolivia  Canada
 Burkina Faso  India  Bulgaria*  Brazil  Denmark
 Cameroon*  Indonesia  Croatia  Colombia  France
 Congo'  Japan  Georgia'  Cuba  Ireland*
 Congo DR'  Kazakhstan'  Latvia*  Dominican Republic  Netherlands*
 Ethiopia  Kuwait  Russian Federation  Ecuador*  New Zealand
 Gabon*  Kyrgyzstan  Serbia'  El Salvador  San Marino
 Lesotho    Nepal  Guatemala'  Spain*
 Libya  Pakistan*  Haiti  Sweden
 Malawi*  Qatar*  Mexico*  Turkey*
 Mauritius  South Korea  Nicaragua*  United Kingdom
 Nigeria  Turkmenistan  Panama'  United States of America
 Senegal*
 South Africa
 Sudan
 Togo'
 Tunisia
ECOSOC Resolution 2007/25: Support to Non-Self-Governing Territories by the specialised agencies and international institutions associated with the United Nations (26 July 2007)

Observer Inter-Governmental Autonomous organisations

Participation on a continuing basis:[5]

Participation on an ad hoc basis:[5]

  • African Accounting Council
  • African Cultural Institute
  • Arab Security Studies and Training Center
  • Council of Arab Ministers of the Interior
  • International Bauxite Association
  • International Civil Defence Organisation
  • Latin American Social Sciences Institute

Functional commissions

The UN Commission on the Status of Women formally became a functional commission of the Economic and Social Council on 21 June 1946 [6]. The UN Commission on the status of women is a global intergovernmental body dedicated to promoting gender equality, and empowering women [7]. Originally, the proposal for the council was turned down with the thought that the Commission on Human Rights would be sufficient to deal with women’s issues [8]. Eventually at the urging of the then Danish delegate, Bodil Begtrup, the Commission on the Status of Women was formed as a freestanding functional commission, dedicated specifically to women’s issues, in 1946 [9]. Bodil Begtrup went on to become the first chair of the Commission on the Status of Women. The Commission on the Status of Women engages with the Commission on Human Rights and serves as a lobby specifically for women, often working closely with women’s NGOs [10]. The commission was initially focused on women’s rights to equality, gradually shifting to a focus on issues of women’s education, social status, political equality etc [11].

Regional commissions

Specialised agencies

These specialised agencies are autonomous organisations working with the United Nations and each other inter alia through the coordinating machinery of the Economic and Social Council.[citation needed]

Other related entities, mechanisms and processes

"World Economic and Social Survey 2011: The Great Green Technological Transformation"

In a report issued in early July 2011, the UN called for spending nearly USD 2 trillion on green technologies to prevent what it termed "a major planetary catastrophe", warning that "It is rapidly expanding energy use, mainly driven by fossil fuels, that explains why humanity is on the verge of breaching planetary sustainability boundaries through global warming, biodiversity loss, and disturbance of the nitrogen-cycle balance and other measures of the sustainability of the earth's ecosystem".

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon added: "Rather than viewing growth and sustainability as competing goals on a collision course, we must see them as complementary and mutually supportive imperatives". The report concluded that "Business as usual is not an option".[12]

Reform of the Economic and Social Council

Governance of the multilateral system has historically been complex and fragmented. This has limited the capacity of ECOSOC to influence international policies in trade, finance and investment. Reform proposals aim to enhance the relevance and contribution of the council. A major reform was approved by the 2005 World Summit on the basis of proposals submitted by secretary-general Kofi Annan.[13] The Summit aimed to establish ECOSOC as a quality platform for high-level engagement among member states and with international financial institutions, the private sector and civil society on global trends, policies and action. It was decided to hold biennial high-level Development Cooperation Forums at the national-leadership level by transforming the high-level segment of the Council to review trends in international development cooperation and promote greater coherence in development activities. At the Summit it was also decided to hold annual ministerial-level substantive reviews to assess progress in achieving internationally agreed development goals (particularly the Millennium Development Goals). These "Annual Ministerial Reviews" will be replaced by the High Level Political Forum from 2016 onwards after the new post-MDG/post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals are agreed.

Subsequent proposals by the High-Level Panel Report on System-Wide Coherence in November 2006 aimed to establish a forum within the ECOSOC as a counter-model to the exclusive clubs of the G8 and G20. The Forum was to comprise 27 heads of state (L27, corresponding to half of ECOSOC's membership) to meet annually and provide international leadership in the development area. This proposal, however, was not approved by the General Assembly.

Chamber design

The Economic and Social Council Chamber in the United Nations Conference Building was a gift from Sweden. It was conceived by Swedish architect Sven Markelius, one of the 11 architects in the international team that designed the UN headquarters. Wood from Swedish pine trees was used in the delegates' area for the railings and doors.

The pipes and ducts in the ceiling above the public gallery were deliberately left exposed; the architect believed that anything useful could be left uncovered. The "unfinished" ceiling is a symbolic reminder that the economic and social work of the United Nations is never finished; there will always be something more which can be done to improve living conditions for the world's people.[14]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "ECOSOC: President: Welcome". United Nations. Retrieved 2015-08-18.
  2. ^ "Background Information". UN Economic and Social Council.
  3. ^ "General Assembly Unanimously Adopts Text Creating United Nations Counter-Terrorism Office; Elects 18 Members to Economic and Social Council | Meetings Coverage and Press Releases". www.un.org.
  4. ^ "General Assembly Elects 18 Members of Economic and Social Council, Also Adopts Texts, Including One Designating 29 June International Day of Tropics | Meetings Coverage and Press Releases". www.un.org.
  5. ^ a b ECOSOC observers, Part V Archived 22 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ http://www.unwomen.org/en/csw
  7. ^ http://www.unwomen.org/en/csw
  8. ^ http://www.mpil.de/files/pdf3/mpunyb_01_2013.pdf
  9. ^ http://www.mpil.de/files/pdf3/mpunyb_01_2013.pdf
  10. ^ http://www.mpil.de/files/pdf3/mpunyb_01_2013.pdf
  11. ^ http://www.mpil.de/files/pdf3/mpunyb_01_2013.pdf
  12. ^ "The World Economic and Social Survey 2011: The Great Green Technological Transformation'". Thaindian News. Retrieved 23 February 2011.
  13. ^ Ian Williams, "Annan has paid his dues". The Guardian, 19 September 2005
  14. ^ UN website.

External links

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