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In 2015, Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor submitted to the Committee on NGOs of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) a consultative status application.

The consultative status granted by the Economic and Social Council provides non-governmental organizations with greater access to a number of UN agencies and procedures by thus making it possible for them to present their alternative positions in the most available way within such procedures.

The consultative status requests are examined by the Committee on NGOs, which ultimately decides whether to guarantee the applicant organization or not. The Committee on NGOs is the Standing Committee of the United Nations Economic and Social Council. The Committee has 19 members selected based on equal geographical representation:

• 5 members from African states;
• 4 members from Asian states;
• 2 members from Eastern European countries;
• 4 members from Latin America and the Caribbean countries;
• 4 members from Western Europe and other countries.

For 2015-2019, the Committee on NGOs includes representatives from the countries below: Azerbaijan, Burundi, China, Cuba, Guinea, India, Iran, Israel, Mauritania, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Russian Federation, South Africa, Sudan, Turkey, United States of America, Uruguay and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic).

However, the Committee has postponed the consideration of the application for already 2 years for various reasons due to the artificial obstacles caused by the member states of the Council. By their questions, Turkey, Russian Federation and Azerbaijan have caused the consideration of HCA Vanadzor NGO’s application to be postponed artificially for a number of times.

Hence, at the session of the Committee on May 27, 2015, along with the applications of 62 applicant organizations, the application of HCA Vanadzor was postponed as well. According to the Committee’s press release, the Turkish representative asked HCA Vanadzor NGO a question on the scope of its local and international activities. HCA Vanadzor provided comprehensive information in answer to the question above. At the session of June 2, 2015, the consideration of HCA Vanadzor NGO’s application was postponed due to the question of the representative of Russian Federation as to the financing of the NGO. The Organization provided an exhaustive response to this question as well (it should be added that the information on the donor organizations for HCA Vanadzor is also posted on the Organization’s website).

As for the session of February 3, 2016, the consideration of the Organization’s application was postponed due to the question of Azerbaijan’s representative who requested clarifications regarding the Organization’s position on recognition of independence of NKR (for the Organization’s response, see here).

And in May, 2016, the Committee asked the Organization another illogical question by requesting information on the visits by the Organization to Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh during the implementation of its regional projects (for the Organization’s response, see here).

It is noteworthy that such a politically-biased behavior has become a common practice for the Committee. HCA Vanadzor is not the only NGO targeted by the discriminatory approach of the Committee.

Concerned over the unprofessional conduct of the Committee as an agency making part of the UN system, on May 27, 2016, over 200 NGOs (including HCA Vanadzor) submitted an open letter to UN ECOSOC. In the open letter above, the NGOs expressed their concern over the politically-biased conduct of the Committee during the consideration of consultative status applications from human rights organizations. Furthermore, it is noteworthy that a number of NGOs have repeatedly raised their concerns over the politically-biased activities of the Committee at its sessions as well.

In their open letter, the NGOs stated that the Committee used to show discriminatory treatment while granting consultative status to NGOs by rejecting arbitrarily the applications of some organizations.

By the letter, the NGOs urged to ensure proper and lawful consideration of the applications submitted by NGOs and presented a number of proposals to this end. The implementation of the proposals is of a paramount importance for creating a secure, transparent, and favorable environment for the civil society at the United Nations’ Organization.

Despite the above, on June 16, 2016, the Committee again postponed the consideration of the application by HCA Vanadzor along with applications of other NGOs, by scheduling its consideration during the session of 2017. This comes to prove that the concerns on the part of NGOs over the activities of the Committee are still actual and the issues raised in the open letter still remain unresolved.

Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor again expresses its concern over the artificial obstacles for NGOs during the activities of a key UN agency. In fact, the process aimed at facilitating the participation of NGOs loses its role and has rather turned into a process hindering the participation of NGOs due to the politically-biased approaches of the representatives of states.  

It is noteworthy that the Economic and Social Council ranges among the principal 6 agencies of the United Nations and coordinates the cooperation among its economic and social sectors, as well as its specialized organizations.