The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is one of the main divisions of the United Nations. He is responsible for coordination, interaction of UN members in social and economic fields, oversees its special institutions. Created in June 1945. The headquarters is located in the city of New York (USA).
UN structure
The United Nations is the main international structure created after the Second World War to ensure and strengthen peace between peoples, security on the planet, and development of cooperation between countries.
The main and main and units are:
- UN General Assembly. It is the main and main deliberative body. As a rule, in September, members of the General Assembly meet annually.
- UN Security Council. Includes 15 members. 5 of them are permanent, including: Russian Federation, USA, France, China, Great Britain. Each of these countries has the right to veto decisions of the Security Council. Ten others are elected at regular intervals for a two-year term. All countries included in the UN must comply with the decisions adopted by the Security Council. In addition, the Security Council is responsible for maintaining peace and security on Earth. It has exclusive powers to end wars and create conditions for the peaceful existence of countries.
- ECOSOC (what is the role of the UN Economic and Social Council, will be discussed below).
- International Court. The main judicial body of the United Nations. It is located at the Palais des Nations in the Netherlands (The Hague). It consists of fifteen judges. They are elected at separate meetings of the Security Council and the General Assembly. Judgments of this structure are binding on Member States of the United Nations.
- Board of Trusteeship. It consists of 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council. The main task of the Council is to help ensure security and socio-economic stability in the trust territories. Ensuring their progressive development to establish independence, self-government.
- UN Secretariat. It is a structure made up of international staff that operates in United Nations entities around the world. Provides a variety of everyday work. The head of the secretariat is the Secretary General, who is the main UN official.
UN Economic and Social Council - composition
The UN Charter of ECOSOC was established as a structural component of this organization, which is responsible for coordinating the work of special units, commissions and committees in the social, economic, humanitarian spheres.
The UN Economic and Social Council includes 54 members, who are elected by the General Assembly for 3 years. The composition of ECOSOC is updated by one third every year, but representatives who are to be replaced can be re-elected.
Representation in the Council of the Economic Social Council is distributed according to established quotas. 14 places are assigned to African countries, 11 - to Asian states. 6 places are allocated to the countries of Eastern Europe. 10 places are intended for representatives of the Caribbean, Latin America. 13 places are allocated to Western Europe and other states.
ECOSOC governing bodies - sessions, member rights
Each year, the Council selects a leader (Chairperson) with two deputies. One organizational and two regular sessions are convened annually.
Each member of ECOSOC has one vote.Decisions of the Council are considered adopted with the consent of the majority. As a rule, in July, the Council holds the main session, which lasts 4-5 weeks. It gathers alternately in Geneva (Switzerland) and New York (USA). A Council session usually begins with a high-level meeting. It is attended by ministers, other senior government officials who arrived at the session to discuss important and relevant social, economic, humanitarian issues facing the UN member countries. At this session, a resolution of the UN Economic and Social Council is adopted.
During the year, the Council collects other sessions of short duration. Prepares a significant number of diverse meetings.
ECOSOC is also the central forum where global socio-economic problems are discussed, recommendations are developed for UN members, data are received and summarized from funds and UN programs.
ECOSOC Tasks
The tasks of the UN Economic and Social Council are:
- implementation of activities related to ensuring economic and social progress, participation in ensuring employment of the population and raising its standard of living;
- work on the development of methods for solving global problems in social, economic fields, in healthcare, etc .;
- rendering assistance to the international interaction of the UN member states in the fields of education, culture;
- development of recommendations to ensure conditions for respect for human rights and their freedoms for the entire population of the planet, without separation by gender, religion, language and race.
ECOSOC has the right to convene meetings in case of emergencies in the humanitarian sphere.
Competence
According to its competence, the UN Economic and Social Council is engaged in the study of issues that are defined by the UN Charter. He takes part in international conferences of an economic and social orientation. Promotes the conduct and prepares them. It takes measures to monitor the implementation of decisions made there. Publishes relevant informational reports. In order to fulfill the tasks, the UN Economic and Social Council is allocated almost seventy percent of financial and human resources.
Each year, before the substantive session of ECOSOC, a Bureau is elected by the members of the Council. Its main task is to develop an agenda, draw up programs of activity, organize session sessions, which are held in close collaboration with the UN Secretariat.
In accordance with Chapter 9 of the UN Charter, ECOSOC was created to solve specific problems in the fields of social and economic cooperation under the leadership of the General Assembly - this is what the UN Economic and Social Council does.
The General Assembly and the UN Security Council can issue instructions to the ECOSOC, according to which it can convene international conferences, symposia, and other meetings.
ECOSOC provides assistance to UN members and agencies of this organization, at their request and with the permission of the General Assembly, providing advice and technical assistance.
At events organized by the Council, those present discuss global social and economic problems. They make recommendations to states and UN structures for their resolution.
ECOSOC Commission
ECOSOC fulfills its functional duties through the work of specially created six commissions, which include the following:
- statistical;
- population;
- on problems of social development;
- according to the situation of children and women;
- on human rights;
- for narcotic substances.
ECOSOC regional and support structures
The UN Economic and Social Council has 5 subsidiary regional commissions:
- African Economic Commission (headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia).
- Socio-Economic Asia-Pacific Commission (headquarters - Bangkok, Thailand).
- European Commission (headquarters - Geneva, Switzerland).
- Latin American Commission (headquarters - Santiago, Chile).
- Western Asian Commission (headquarters - Baghdad, Iraq).
ECOSOC has a number of standing auxiliary committees that work in the following areas:
- programmatic and coordination problems;
- committee of natural resources;
- A committee studying the activities of transnational corporations;
- on settlements;
- A committee responsible for negotiating with government agencies and interacting with non-governmental organizations.
To ensure the solution of its tasks, the Council organized a structure of standing expert bodies responsible for ensuring the safety of the transport of dangerous goods, combating crime and preventing its manifestations, studying the problems of world development within its competence, monitoring the state of tax education between developing and developed countries.
ECOSOC and non-governmental organizations
The role of the UN Economic and Social Council is significant in collaboration with various non-governmental organizations. Currently, there are more than 2,800. They have consultant status on the Council.
All non-governmental organizations from this number are divided into three categories:
- The first category. Those NGOs that cover most areas of ECOSOC with their activities.
- The second category. NGOs identified by ECOSOC as having special competence in a specific field.
- The third category. NGOs that are allowed to periodically contact the Council and its subsidiary structures.
Non-governmental organizations in consultative status may be present as observers at meetings of ECOSOC and its structural divisions. Carry out written statements and proposals to the governing bodies of the Council.
Conclusion
The current world situation requires effective participation from the Economic and Social Council. Responsible for the consideration and analysis of global social, humanitarian and economic problems, ECOSOC should play a more significant role, which is assigned to it by the provisions of the UN Charter. More effectively and persistently participate in the work of international institutions that ensure the security of states within their competence.