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INTRODUCTION
• The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is an organ of special significance in the UN structure, particularly in economic, social, cultural, educational, health and human rights matters.
• It consists of 54 members who meet twice a year. ECOSOC carries out its functions in the form of numerous committees and commissions (i.e. Commission on Human Rights, the Sub-Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights) and specialized agencies (i.e. International Labor Organization [ILO], World Health Organization [WHO]).
I. The United Nations - its purposes, functions, structure
• The purposes and principles of the United Nations are set forth in the United Nations Charter which came into force on October 24, 1945. One of the aims of the Charter is:
• "...To achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion...."
• The Charter of the United Nations also provides for the 6 principle organs of the United Nations:
• 1. General Assembly • 2. Security Council • 3. Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) • 4. Trusteeship Council • 5. International Court of Justice • 6. Secretariat
General Overview
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TASKS AND FUNCTIONS OF ECOSOC
• promotion of higher standards of living, full employment, economic and social progress
• solutions to international economic, social and health problems• international cultural and educational cooperation• encouraging universal respect for human rights and fundamental
freedoms• consults with academics, business sector representatives and more than
2100 registered non-governmental organizations
• Examples: Millennium Development Goals, ICT Task Force [Information and communication Technologies], African Development, Poverty eradication and sustainable development
coordinates the work of the 14 UN specialized agencies, 10 functional commissions and five regional commissions
receives reports from 11 UN funds and programmes issues policy recommendations to UN Bodies and
Member States is controlled by the General Assembly serves as coordinating mechanism does not hold executive authority
The ECOSOC is the central forum for discussing economic and social issues within the UN
CHAMBER DESIGN- SOME HISTORY
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.
ECOSOC MEMBERSThe Council's 54 member Governments are elected by the General Assembly for overlapping three-year terms. Seats on the Council are allotted based on geographical representation with fourteen allocated to African States, eleven to Asian States, six to Eastern European States, ten to Latin American and Caribbean States, and thirteen to Western European and other States.
STRUCTURE OF ECOSOC
Full list of members of the Economic and Social Council for
2014 and the expiration date of membership Albania 2015
Antigua and Barbuda 2016
Austria 2014
Bangladesh 2016
Belarus 2014
Benin 2015
Bolivia (Plurinational State of) 2015
Botswana 2016
Brazil 2014
Burkina Faso 2014
Canada 2015
China 2016
Colombia 2015
Congo 2016
Croatia 2015
Cuba 2014
Democratic Republic of the Congo 2016
Denmark 2016
Dominican Republic 2014
El Salvador 2014
Ethiopia 2014
France 2014
Georgia 2016
Germany 2014
Greece 2014
Guatemala 2016
Haiti 2015
India 2014Indonesia 2014
Italy 2015
Japan 2014
Kazakhstan 2016
Kuwait 2015
Kyrgyzstan 2015
Lesotho 2014
Libya 2014
Mauritius 2015
Nepal 2015
San Marino 2015
Serbia 2016
South Africa 2015
Sudan 2015
Sweden 2016
Togo 2016
Tunisia 2015
Turkmenistan 2015
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
2016
United States of America 2015
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
Regional Commissions
• Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)• Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)• Economic Commission for Europe(ECE)• Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)• Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA)
Standing Committees
• Committee for Programme and Coordination• Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations• Committee on Negotiations with Intergovernmental Agencies
Governmental Experts• Committee of Experts on the
Transport of Dangerous Goods and on the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals
• United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names
Independent Experts• Committee for Development Policy• United Nations Committee of
Experts on Public Administration• Ad Hoc Group of Experts on
International Cooperation in Tax Matters
• Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
• Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
Special Bodies• International Narcotics Control
Board• Board of Trustees of the
International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women
CONCLUSIONit provided a lot of humanitarian and out standing services to the world. But there are also so many crictisms against ecosoc. • huge number of institutions and organs within the ECOSOC overlapping responsibilities, hard to manage/ coordinate
• the structure of the ECOSOC does not support coordinating function
• very bureaucratic inefficacious
MY REFERENCES
www.un.org/en/ecosocwww.internetsociety.orgwww.ngocongo.orgwww. csonet.org
(ACCESSED ON 13-06-14)
