Context

• Recently, India elected to UN Economic and Social Council, one of the six main organs of the United Nations, for the 2022-24 term.

Key Details

• India was elected in the Asia-Pacific States category along with Afghanistan, Kazakhstan and Oman.
• From the African states, Côte d’Ivoire, Eswatini, Mauritius, Tunisia and the United Republic of Tanzania were elected while from the eastern European states, Croatia and the Czech Republic and from the Latin American and Caribbean states, Belize, Chile and Peru were elected.

  

• In the Economic and Social Council by-election, Greece, New Zealand and Denmark were elected for a term of office from January to December 2022 and Israel was elected for a term of office beginning January 1, 2022 and until December 31, 2023.
• India is currently serving the 2021-22 term as a non-permanent member of the powerful UN Security Council and will assume the Presidency of the 15-nation UN organ in August.

About UN Economic and Social Council

• The 54-member Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is at the heart of the United Nations system to advance the three dimensions of sustainable development – economic, social and environmental.
• It is the central platform for fostering debate and innovative thinking, forging consensus on ways forward, and coordinating efforts to achieve internationally agreed goals.
• It is also responsible for the follow-up to major UN conferences and summits.
• The UN Charter established ECOSOC in 1945 as one of the six main organs of the United Nations.
• ECOSOC’s 54 members are elected for three-year terms by the General Assembly.
• Seats on the Council are allotted based on geographical representation with 14 allocated to African states, 11 to Asian states, six to eastern European states, 10 to Latin American and Caribbean states and 13 to western European and other states, according to the ECOSOC website.
• 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 following are the active functional commission of the Council:

• • Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND)
  • Commission on Population and Development (CPD)
  • Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD)
  • Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)
  • Statistical Commission
  • Commission for Social Development (CSocD)
  • Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ)
  • Forum on Forests (UNFF)

Note: In a major achievement, India on April 20, 2021, was elected to three United Nations Economic and Social Council bodies. These bodies are the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ), Executive Board of UN Women, Executive Board of the World Food Programme.  

• Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ), based in Vienna, acts as the principal policy-making body of the United Nations in the field of crime prevention and criminal justice. The CCPCJ has 40 member states that are elected by ECOSOC and is chaired by a Bureau, including one member per Regional Group. 
• The Executive Board is World Food Program or WFP’s supreme governing body. Comprising 36 states members of the United Nations or Member Nations of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the board provides intergovernmental support, policy direction and supervision of the activities of WFP. 
• UN Women is about gender issues. Executive Board of UN Women consists of 41 members, 10 from the African states, 10 from the Asian states, 4 from the Eastern European states, 6 from Latin American and the Caribbean states, 5 from Western Europe and the other states, and 6 from top contributing countries.
  • The win for India becomes very important as it comes in the silver jubilee year of the Beijing conference. It is the 25th anniversary of the famous Beijing World Conference on Women (1995).

Source: TH

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