India gets elected to four UN ECOSOC bodies

United Nations, Apr 13: India has been elected to four key bodies of the UN Economic and Social Council, including the Commission on Science and Technology for Development. The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is one of the six principal organs of the UN System established by the UN Charter in 1945.

It consists of 54 members of the United Nations elected by the General Assembly. “India gets elected to 4 @UN ECOSOC Bodies: Commission for Social Development, Committee on NGOs, Commission on Science & Technology for Development and Ambassador Preeti Saran gets re-elected to Committee for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,” India’s Permanent Mission to the UN tweeted on Wednesday.

India’s Permanent Mission to the UN thanked all Member States. In December 2018, senior Indian diplomat Saran had been elected unopposed to the Asia Pacific seat on the UN's Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR).

Saran’s first four-year term began on January 1, 2019. She had joined the Indian Foreign Service in August 1982. She has served in Indian missions at Moscow, Dhaka, Cairo, Geneva, Toronto and Vietnam and was the Consul General of India in Toronto and the Indian Ambassador to Vietnam. Since the World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen in 1995, the Commission for Social Development (CSocD) has been the key United Nations body in charge of the follow up and implementation of the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action.

Its purpose was to advise ECOSOC on social policies of a general character and, in particular, on all matters in the social field not covered by the specialised inter-governmental agencies, the UN said. The Committee on Non-Governmental Organisations is a standing committee of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), established by the Council in 1946.

The main tasks of the Committee are consideration of applications for consultative status and requests for reclassification submitted by NGOs and consideration of quadrennial reports submitted by NGOs in General and Special categories among others. The United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) is a subsidiary body of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

It holds an annual intergovernmental forum for discussion on timely and pertinent issues affecting science, technology and development. Outcomes of the CSTD include providing the United Nations General Assembly and ECOSOC with high-level advice on relevant science and technology issues.

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) is the body of 18 independent experts that monitors implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights by its State parties. The Covenant enshrines economic, social and cultural rights such as the rights to adequate food, adequate housing, education, health, social security, water and sanitation, and work, the UN said. PTI