Model United Nations

The institutions and organs of the UN

Overview and positioning of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)

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General Overview

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General Overview: The institutions and organs of the UN

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General Overview: The institutions and organs of the UN

Main Bodies

• the Charter of the UN constitutes six active principal organs• these are supported by several sub organs and special organizations• except for the International Court of Justice all headquarters are situated in New York

Security Council• the most powerful body• consists of five permanent members with veto right

China, France, Great Britain, Russia and the USA• and ten non-permanent members• the only body that can make global binding decisions

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General Assembly• each Member State has voting rights• scrutiny of the UN budget• the regular plenary meeting holds annual meetings in

autumn

Secretary • most important administrative organ • organizational support of the other UN Bodies• consists of Secretary-General and international public

servants• the Secretary-General has the highest executive functions

in the UN system• additionally exist several sub offices

General Overview: The institutions and organs of the UN

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International Court of Justice (ICJ)• organ of juris• based in Den Haag• the legal foundation is the law of nations

UN Trusteeship Council• suspended operations in 1994 • was supposed to restore countries which stood under

colonial rule to autonomy

General Overview: The institutions and organs of the UN

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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

Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)

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a. Tasks and functions

• 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

Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)

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Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)b. Structure and members

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Albania India

Brazil Lithuania

Chad Mexico

China New Zealand

Costa Rica Pakistan

Democratic Republic of Congo Portugal

Denmark Russia

Guinea South Africa

Iceland Thailand

United Kingdom

Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)

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Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)

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b. Structure and members

c. Subsidiary Bodies of the ECOSOC

Functional Commissions

• Statistical Commission

• Commission on Population and Development

• Commission for Social Development

• Commission on the Status of Women

• Commission on Narcotic Drugs

• Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice

• Commission on Science and Technology for Development

• Commission on Sustainable Development

• United Nations Forum on Forests

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Ad hoc open-ended intergovernmental group of experts on energy and sustainable development

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)

Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)

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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

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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

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d. Problems

• 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

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Thank you for your attention.

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