EuropaWorld 27/7/2001 ECOSOC - the United Nations Economic and Social Council

The UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) was established by the United Nations Charter with the goal of facilitating universal economic and social progress. This ambitious aim includes seeking solutions to global economic, social, health, and related problems; promoting international cultural and educational co-operation; and promoting universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms.

The Council operates under the authority of the UN General Assembly and fulfils several functions. First, the Council serves as a central forum for discussing international economic and social issues. Through liaison with governmental and non-governmental bodies, and through initiating studies and research, the Council formulates policy recommendations addressed both to Member States and to the United Nations system. Through consultations and recommendations the Council helps co-ordinate the work of the UN and its specialised agencies, to meet its goals of higher standards of living in both economic and social terms. The Council also has the power to call international conferences and to prepare draft conventions for submission to the General Assembly to this end.

The council is composed of 54 members who serve three-year terms. Seats on the Council are allocated according to geographical representation. Fouteen seats are 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. Voting in the Council is by simple majority; each member has one vote.

The Economic and Social Council generally holds one five-week substantive session each year, alternating between New York and Geneva. The session includes a high-level special meeting, attended by ministers and other senior government 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. Such commissions investigate issues as diverse as HIV/AIDS, forestry and ageing in order to formulate policy and make strategic recommendations to help individual countries achieve overall aims.

The priorities of the Council are established by its Bureau, an internal body composed of members who are elected by the Council at large at the beginning of each annual session. As well as proposing the Council's agenda, the Bureau's main functions are to draw up a programme of work and to organise the session with the support of the United Nations Secretariat

Some priorities for the current session have included the Third UN Conference on Least Developed Countries, special sessions on the status of women and sustainable development and will include the forthcoming World Conference on Racism to be held in Durban in September.

The current President of ECOSOC is Ambassador Martin Belinga-Eboutou, Permanent Representative of Cameroon to the United Nations.

Further information about ECOSOC can be found at http://www.un.org/esa/coordination/ecosoc/