Today on March 6, the office of the Armenian Young Lawyers` Association hosted the first meeting of the Armenian NGOs with special consultative status at the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
During the meeting the 4 Armenian NGOs with consultative status at ECOSOC, namely Association for “Sustainable Human Development”, Armenian Constitutional Right-Protective Center, Center for Development of Civil Society and Armenian Young Lawyers` Association established the Coalition of Armenian NGOs with special consultative status at the UN Economic and Social Council.
The members of the newly-established Coalition aim at sharing their position on various topical issues of significant importance in the framework of the UN and its agencies, as well as undertaking steps under the common initiatives directed at the agenda issues, using the structures of the public diplomacy.
The Coalition is open for accession only by those Armenian NGOs which will gain a special consultative status at the UN Economic and Social Council in the future.
The Coalition members also adopted their first common statement, expressing their concern with regard the establishment of the Anti-Corruption Council by the RA Government as of it being inconsistent with the provisions and principles of the UN Convention Against Corruption, Jakarta Statement on Principles for Anti-Corruption Agencies, Kuala Lumpur Statement on Anti-Corruption Strategies.
UN Economic and Social Council (established in 1946 by the UN Charter) is the UN principal body for coordination, policy review, policy dialogue and recommendations on economic, social and environmental issues, as well as for implementation of the internationally agreed development goals.
On 11 November 2013 at the 58th Session of the UN General Assembly the Republic of Armenia was elected as a member of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) for a term of two years.
