The Council Committee on NGOs: An analysis of the reports of the Council Committee on NGOs between 2005 and 2015

The Council Committee on NGOs (hereafter: the Committee) recommends the Economic and Social Council (hereafter: the ECOSOC) on whether or not to grant an NGO ECOSOC consultative status. The Committee has often been criticized for having a politicalized decision-making process. As obtaining ECOSOC co...

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Main Author: Simone Vromen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Utrecht University School of Law 2017-01-01
Series:Utrecht Law Review
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.utrechtlawreview.org/articles/10.18352/ulr.373/
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author Simone Vromen
author_facet Simone Vromen
author_sort Simone Vromen
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description The Council Committee on NGOs (hereafter: the Committee) recommends the Economic and Social Council (hereafter: the ECOSOC) on whether or not to grant an NGO ECOSOC consultative status. The Committee has often been criticized for having a politicalized decision-making process. As obtaining ECOSOC consultative status is seen as one of the most prominent ways for NGOs to gain access to the UN,  such a politicalized decision-making process can be problematic. This paper examines the work of the Committee over the past decade and aims to map out the grounds on which consultative status is granted, not granted or withdrawn. The work of the Committee is tested against the criteria in Resolution 1996/31, the resolution that governs ECOSOC consultative status. It is concluded that these criteria are often interpreted broadly, which gives rise to a great deal of debate among the Committee members. In some cases, grounds that are used for recommendations are hard to trace back to the criteria in Resolution 1996/31. This leads to a decision-making-process that seems to be rather arbitrary. As a consequence, NGOs that promote issues that are not approved by all the Committee members find themselves having a hard time being granted consultative status.
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spelling doaj.art-d2fa0fe26f794d46a91f79962a8155532022-12-21T19:30:27ZengUtrecht University School of LawUtrecht Law Review1871-515X2017-01-01131829810.18352/ulr.373336The Council Committee on NGOs: An analysis of the reports of the Council Committee on NGOs between 2005 and 2015Simone VromenThe Council Committee on NGOs (hereafter: the Committee) recommends the Economic and Social Council (hereafter: the ECOSOC) on whether or not to grant an NGO ECOSOC consultative status. The Committee has often been criticized for having a politicalized decision-making process. As obtaining ECOSOC consultative status is seen as one of the most prominent ways for NGOs to gain access to the UN,  such a politicalized decision-making process can be problematic. This paper examines the work of the Committee over the past decade and aims to map out the grounds on which consultative status is granted, not granted or withdrawn. The work of the Committee is tested against the criteria in Resolution 1996/31, the resolution that governs ECOSOC consultative status. It is concluded that these criteria are often interpreted broadly, which gives rise to a great deal of debate among the Committee members. In some cases, grounds that are used for recommendations are hard to trace back to the criteria in Resolution 1996/31. This leads to a decision-making-process that seems to be rather arbitrary. As a consequence, NGOs that promote issues that are not approved by all the Committee members find themselves having a hard time being granted consultative status.http://www.utrechtlawreview.org/articles/10.18352/ulr.373/United NationsNGO participationECOSOC consultative statusCouncil Committee on NGOs
spellingShingle Simone Vromen
The Council Committee on NGOs: An analysis of the reports of the Council Committee on NGOs between 2005 and 2015
Utrecht Law Review
United Nations
NGO participation
ECOSOC consultative status
Council Committee on NGOs
title The Council Committee on NGOs: An analysis of the reports of the Council Committee on NGOs between 2005 and 2015
title_full The Council Committee on NGOs: An analysis of the reports of the Council Committee on NGOs between 2005 and 2015
title_fullStr The Council Committee on NGOs: An analysis of the reports of the Council Committee on NGOs between 2005 and 2015
title_full_unstemmed The Council Committee on NGOs: An analysis of the reports of the Council Committee on NGOs between 2005 and 2015
title_short The Council Committee on NGOs: An analysis of the reports of the Council Committee on NGOs between 2005 and 2015
title_sort council committee on ngos an analysis of the reports of the council committee on ngos between 2005 and 2015
topic United Nations
NGO participation
ECOSOC consultative status
Council Committee on NGOs
url http://www.utrechtlawreview.org/articles/10.18352/ulr.373/
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