Information services (NGOs) • General assistance/information service for NGOs in regard to CERD: Anti-Racism Information Service (ARIS) 14 avenue Trembley CH-1209 Geneva, Switzerland Tel: +41 22 740 3530 Fax: +41 22 740 3565 E-mail: aris@antiracism-info.org Website: http://www.antiracism-info.org • General assistance/information service for NGOs regarding any UN human rights bodies: International Service for Human Rights PO Box 16, 1 rue de Varembé CH-1211 Geneva 20 CIC, Switzerland Tel: +41 22 733 5123 Fax: +41 22 733 0826 Website: http://www.ishr.ch • General assistance/information service for NGOs in regard to the CRC: NGO Group on the Convention on the Rights of the Child c/o Defence for Children International PO Box 88, 1 rue de Varembé CH-1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland Tel: +41 22 740 47 30 Fax: +41 22 740 1145 Email: ngo-crc@tiscalinet.ch 6.2 How to apply for ECOSOC status Your NGO must have been in existence (officially registered) for at least two years. It must have an established headquarters, a democratically-adopted Constitution, authority to speak for its members, a representative structure, appropriate mechanisms of accountability, and democratic and transparent decision-making processes. The rules state you should be able to show that most of your funding comes from non-governmental components, although this does not seem to be strictly applied. Your organization’s activities must be relevant to the work of ECOSOC and in no way contrary to the provisions of the UN Charter. Traditionally, most ECOSOC NGOs have been of an international nature, but increasingly, NGOs working on the national level are obtaining ECOSOC status. In their case however, the state concerned may be consulted before the application is approved. MINORITY RIGHTS: A GUIDE TO UNITED NATIONS PROCEDURES AND INSTITUTIONS There are three categories of consultative status. NGOs whose work covers most of the issues dealt with by ECOSOC can apply for General Consultative Status. These are usually fairly large international organizations. Special Consultative Status is for NGOs with specific competence in some of the fields of the work of ECOSOC. These tend to be smaller or more recently established NGOs. Roster Status is for NGOs who can make ‘occasional and useful contributions to the work of the Council or its subsidiary bodies’. It is possible to obtain one category of consultative status and later apply to upgrade it. Different rules of participation apply to NGOs depending on their level of status. Speaking rights and time limits may vary, as may the length of written submissions permitted. Initially you must send a letter, signed by your Secretary-General or President to the NGO Section of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) expressing your intention to apply for ECOSOC status. (For contact details, see Annex 6.1.) You will then receive the application package. Your application must be submitted in English or French and all supporting documents must be submitted in one of those languages. Your completed application has to reach the NGO section by 1 June. It will be considered by the Committee on NGOs at its session the following year. The committee is made up of representatives of 19 states. The NGO section reviews applications and may contact you to ask for more information. Once reviewed, the application is submitted to the committee. The committee meets twice a year. During the session the committee may ask you questions about your application. These will be faxed to you and you should reply immediately in order to avoid the committee deciding to defer the application to the next session. NGOs have the right to be present when their application is being considered. Most NGOs do not attend the first time their application is considered but if the application is deferred, they may decide to attend the next session to be able to reply to questions in person and to avoid further deferrals. The committee makes a recommendation to the ECOSOC, which has to approve it before consultative status is granted. After the committee makes its recommendation and after the final ECOSOC decision, you will receive official notification. All NGOs with General and Special consultative status must submit a report on their activities every four years. Organizations with Roster status do not have to report. For more information on applying for ECOSOC status see: http://www.un.org/esa/coordination/ngo. 39