IADL's observers status in UN organisations

May 2nd, 2008

Hugo Chavez adressing the General Assembly The IADL was one of the original NGOs accredited in Consultative II Status with ECOSOC and is represented at UNESCO and UNICEF. Today, over 3,000 NGOs are accredited in consultative status to ECOSOC. In addition, IADL is a member of the Congress of Non-Government Organizations (CONGO) of the United Nations.

Article 71 of the UN Charter and ECOSOC Resolution 1996/31 provide the basis for the consultative relationship between IADL and other NGOs whose programme of work has direct relevance to the aims and purposes of the United Nations. IADL’s ECOSOC status, based on its competency in international law, has enabled the organization to regularly participate in the U.N. human rights structures in Geneva, as well as at its centres in New York and Vienna, and in sub-commissions concerned with disarmament, development, women’s rights, the struggle against apartheid and colonialism, among others.IADL regularly attends activities at the three U.N. centres, and lobbies on issues of concern to its national associations.

The following are partial excerpts from IADL’s latest Quadrennial Reports to the Committee on Non Governmental Organizations outlining a cross-section of the organization’s activities consistent with its U.N. mandates:

Co-sponsor of the Conference of Jurists Against Racism and Fascism; participation at the Preparatory Commission for ICC;

Participation at the Commission on the Status of Women; formation of the International Commission for Labour Rights with the International Centre for Trade Union Rights (ICTUR);

Participation in the International War Crimes Tribunal on US Crimes in Korea, 1945-2001;

Participation at the World Conference Against Racism; participation at the Special Session on AIDS;

Co-organization of the International Conference of Lawyers on Palestine, International Law and Peace;

Chair of NGO Committee on Southern Africa;

Co-sponsor of the Conference of Lawyers of Asia and the Pacific;

Participation in the preparatory meeting of the International Conference on Reparations for Africans and African Descendents, a post WCAR initiative;

Co-sponsor the Conference on Aftermath of 9.11; participation in the Assembly of State Parties;

Participation at U.N. Conference on Civil Society in Support of the Palestinian People;

Participation in Security Council meeting;

Participation in the Informal General Assembly Meeting with NGO Representatives;

Co-sponsor of the International Conference on Peace on the Korean Peninsula and played leading role in Pyongyang International Tribunal;

Sponsor of delegation to Sub-Commission, Human Rights Commission with presentation of written paper, “Forgotten War, Forgotten Victims and Forgotten Crimes,” on the Korean War;

Delegation to Vietnam on Agent Orange compensation;

Participation in NGO Forum on Iraq;

Participation in NGO Committees’ Forum on “Decade for Education for Sustainable Development;” NGO Committee on the Decade of the World’s Indigenous Peoples;

Drafting of the Charter for the International People’s Tribunal on the Aggression Against Iraq;

Meeting of the International Commission for Labour Rights in Geneva;

Co-submission of two amicus briefs to the Israeli High Court;

Participation in the Vienna Alliance of NGOs and Vienna Committee on the Status of Women;

Participation in UNESCO Executive Council’s meeting and drafting of a proposed international instrument to protect world cultural heritage; participation in ECOSOC Informal Panel on Reforms, ECOSOC meeting on Poverty Eradication in LDCs;

Co-sponsor of the International People’s Tribunal on the Aggression Against Iraq;

sponsor of the conference on “New Dimensions of Terrorism’ and publication of “Racism and Racial Discrimination,” a study submitted to UNESCO.