The Fund Forum has been granted Special Consultative Status by ECOSOC

August 5, 2010

The Fund Forum has been granted Special Consultative Status by the UN Economic and Social Council. In July 2010, the NGO Committee at one of its last sessions recommended that the foundations be granted the Status. The Fund Forum has thus become the first public organization in Uzbekistan to receive the status with the ECOSOC. Shortly afterwards, another partner organization of the Fund Forum, Mehr Nuri Charitable Foundation, was granted Special Consultative Status.

Once granted a Consultative Status, a nongovernmental organization gets an opportunity to contribute to the UN activities and particularly to the ECOSOC, its commissions and other subsidiary bodies. Representatives of NGOs with this status may participate in events and activities of the UN and its structures, make statements, swap experience, designate official representatives to the United Nations – to the UN Headquarters in New York and the UN offices in Geneva and Vienna.

The Special Consultative Status enables the Fund Forum participate in the activities of the UN and put forth recommendations regarding issues related to international cultural and humanitarian cooperation, development of a dialog among nations, education, science, culture and arts, healthy lifestyle and charity.

It is noteworthy that the granting of the Consultative Status points to the recognition of the effectiveness and international significance of the Fund Forum. Although the UN`s cooperation with nongovernmental organizations can be traced back to the times of the League of Nations, receiving a status allowing for more active participation in the UN`s activities is difficult task for public organizations.

In order to get a consultative status, an NGO must meet a series of requirements. More specifically, its activities must be in tune with the purposes of the UN, be engaged in issues that are under the ECOSOC competence, have a democratic inner structure and oversee international activities. According to practice, an NGO may be considered an international entity if it has offices in at least three countries.