The Economic and Social Council
The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is the principal organ of the United Nations in coordinating economic, social, and related work of the 14 UN Specialized Agencies, functional commissions and five regional commissions. ECOSOC serves as the central forum for discussing international economic and social issues, and for formulating policy recommendations addressed to Member States and the United Nations system. It is responsible for promoting higher standards of living, full employment, and economic and social progress; identifying solutions to international economic, social and health problems; facilitating international cultural and educational cooperation; and encouraging universal respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.
The Council derives its mandate from chapter X of the Charter of the United Nations; it has the power to make or initiate studies and reports on these issues. With its broad mandate the Council's purview extends to over 70 per cent of the human and financial resources of the entire UN system. Due to recent reforms in its mandate, ECOSOC now holds the responsibility to hold annual ministerial reviews (AMR) and to serve as a quality platform of engagement on global policies and trends in the economic, social, environmental and humanitarian field. The Council has also been given the mandate to convene ad-hoc meetings on humanitarian emergencies as and when they are requested.
The Council consists of 54 member states, elected by the General Assembly by a regional key. Each country has one vote.
For further information please visit the official ECOSOC Website.
The UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) Governing Council
UNEP, established in 1972, is the voice for the environment within the United Nations system. UNEP acts as a catalyst, advocate, educator and facilitator to promote the wise use and sustainable development of the global environment. UNEP work encompasses assessing global, regional and national environmental conditions and trends; developing international and national environmental instruments; strengthening institutions for the wise management of the environment; facilitating the transfer of knowledge and technology for sustainable development; and encouraging new partnerships and mind-sets within civil society and the private sector.
The UNEP Governing Council was established in accordance with General Assembly resolution 2997 and is responsible to provide general policy guidance for the direction and coordination of environmental programmes within the United Nations system, to receive and review the periodic reports of the Executive Director of UNEP on the implementation of environmental programmes and to promote international cooperation in the field of the environment and to recommend, as appropriate, policies to this end.
The Governing Council reports to the General Assembly through the Economic and Social Council. 58 members of the Council are elected by the General Assembly, for four-year terms, taking into account the principle of equitable regional representation.
For further information please visit the UNEP Website.
UN High Commission on Refugees Executive Committee
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was established in 1950 by the United Nations General Assembly. The agency is mandated to lead and co-ordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide. Its primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees. It strives to ensure that everyone can exercise the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another State, with the option to return home voluntarily, integrate locally or to resettle in a third country. It also has a mandate to help stateless people.
In more than five decades, the agency has helped tens of millions of people restart their lives. Today, a staff of some 6,600 people in more than 110 countries continues to help about 34 million persons.
The UNHCR Executive Committee (ExCom), composed of 78 members, was created in 1958 as a subsidiary body of the General Assembly. ExCom does not substitute for the policy making functions of the General Assembly or ECOSOC but has its own executive and advisory functions. These include:
· to advise the High Commissioner in the exercise of his/her functions
· to review funds and programmes
· to authorize the High Commissioner to make appeals for funds
· to approve proposed biennial budget targets
The High Commissioner reports annually to ECOSOC and the General Assembly on the work of UNHCR.
Most UNHCR operations are in the field and ara carried out by the UN Refugee Agency (UNRA). The worldwide operation has become highly complex, ranging from recruitment of new staff and ensuring their security in dangerous situations to the procurement of everything from medical supplies and bulk food shipments to aircraft charters.
For further information please visit the UNCHR Website.
The Disarmament Commission
The United Nations Disarmament Commission (UNDC) is a deliberative body and a subsidiary organ of the UN General Assembly which is mandated to consider and make recommendations on various disarmament related issues and to follow up the relevant decisions and recommendations of the special sessions devoted to disarmament held so far.
The Disarmament Commission was re-established in 1978 to succeed an earlier Disarmament Commission, which ceased to convene after 1965. It consists of all Member States and reports annually to the General Assembly.
Since 1978, the Disarmament Commission has dealt with numerous disarmament related questions, both nuclear and conventional, and has submitted guidelines and principles on various subject items, including guidelines for appropriate types of confidence-building measures, guidelines and recommendations for regional approaches to disarmament within the context of global security, and guidelines and recommendations for objective information on military matters.
For further information please visit the UNDC Website.
The International Criminal Court
The International Criminal Court (ICC), governed by the Rome Statute, is the first permanent, treaty based, international criminal court established to help end impunity for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community.
The international community has long aspired to the creation of a permanent international court, and, in the 20th century, it reached consensus on definitions of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. In the 1990s after the end of the Cold War, tribunals like the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda were the result of consensus that impunity is unacceptable.
On 17 July 1998, the international community reached an historic milestone when 120 States adopted the Rome Statute, the legal basis for establishing the permanent International Criminal Court. The Rome Statute entered into force on 1 July 2002.
The ICC is an independent institution. The Court is not part of the United Nations, but it maintains a cooperative relationship with the UN. The court's seat is at The Hague in the Netherlands.
The Court is composed of four organs: the Presidency, the judicial Divisions (Pre-Trial, Trial, and Appeals), the Office of the Prosecutor and the Registry. The Court has jurisdiction over cases concerning individual criminals under the Rome Statute and does not hold authority to judge or penalize states.