India Wins 6 Elections to UNECOSOC Bodies

India has won six elections to United Nations (UN) Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) bodies, five of them were won unanimously.

In the polls held, India won places on the executive boards of four UN bodies, three commissions and a committee.

India’s election to the NGO Committee

India faced an election within the Asia-Pacific group only for the Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) Committee.
India polled the highest number of votes, receiving 46 votes, followed by Pakistan with 43, while China received 39.
The NGO committee is considered influential because it scrutinises the NGOs applying for consultative status with ECOSOC and can recommend or block them.
After the Asia-Pacific vote, India was elected by acclamation in all the six elections by the entire ECOSOC, which comprises all the 193 members of the UN.
India will serve a four-year term on the panel starting January 2019

India also won elections to the Executive Boards of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS).
India will serve three-year term from January 2019 on those executive boards.
India was also elected separately on the Executive board of UN-Women for a three-year term starting from January 2019.
UN-Women works for the Empowerment of Women and Gender Equality.

India was elected on UN Commission on Population and Development and it will have term till September 2021.
The UN Commission on Population and Development assists UNECOSOC by arranging for studies and advising it on population issues and trends, integrating population and development strategies and population and related development policies and programmes.
India was also elected on the UN Commission for Social Development and shall have four-year term starting immediately.
The UN Commission for Social Development advices UNECOSOC on social policies of general character and in particular on all matters in social field not covered by specialised inter-governmental agencies.
India was also elected UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice and will serve three-year term starting January 2019.
The UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice acts as principal policymaking body of UN in field of crime prevention and criminal justice. It aims to improve international action to combat national and transnational crime and efficiency and fairness of criminal justice administration systems.

The United Nations Economic and Social Council is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations.
It was formed in 1945 and has its headquarters in New York.
It responsible for coordinating the economic, social, and related work of 15 UN specialized agencies, their functional commissions and five regional commissions.
The ECOSOC has 54 members. It holds one four-week session each year in July
It also holds an annual meeting in April with finance ministers heading key committees of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
ECOSOC serves as the central forum for discussing international economic and social issues and formulating policy recommendations addressed to member states and the United Nations system. India is one of the members of the UNECOSOC.