United Nations Economic and Social Council

And then we've also partnered with academic institutions like George Washington University and their law program, um, to develop a national commission on research ethics to reevaluate, um, medical and public health ethics, research ethics, um, in a more-than-human context, and we expect for a report on that to be coming out next, next year or so.

Um, and then in the area of leadership and advocacy, we're, um, we're, we have special consultative status with, uh, the UN Economic and Social Council, ECOSOC, and we're an accredited organization with the UN Environment Program.

And through those, through those, um, roles, we work to, um, ensure that, uh, global issues, um, have, um, a Just One Health focus, if you will.

And, uh, we've worked on resolutions, we've worked on treaties or, um, international accords, um, within, within those contexts.

Ähm, das hat natürlich zugenommen an technischen Möglichkeiten und das sehen wir als einen sehr kritischen, ähm, Faktor.

Drum sind wir auch, ähm, äh, haben uns akkreditieren lassen bei ECOSOC.

Ähm, das ist eine UNO-Unterorganisation, wo es auch um die Frage geht ja, welche sozialen Rechte, wie Menschenrechte, wie werden die geschützt, wie werden die vertreten? Haben wir besseren Zugang zu Dialogforen, wo wir auch unseren Partnern helfen können, ihre gerade zivilgesellschaftlichen Partnern auch kritische Themen in eine internationale Debatte zu bringen, ähm, weil man vor Ort dann oft, äh, wenig Raum hat, kritische Themen aufzubringen.

Ähm, also ist durchaus auch so die Schattenseite: Wie wird mit Daten umgegangen-

That will go to the secretary general for his approval.

And I think the big question there is going to be how much is going to be put on the interim executive director's shoulders And how much are we going to wait till the program coordinating board, the ECOSOC, and I'll come to and remember the name of what ECOSOC stands for in just a minute.

But the vehicle inside the UN that is responsible for UNAIDS, how long they take to hire a new executive director.

And if you hang on one second, I'll show you how efficient I am with my phone and I will go straight to it.

The sharks and the jets.

It ends much better.

Anyway, do you have any interest at all in knowing what ECOSOC is?

Absolutely.

Brian Sanders joining us from LinkedIn asks, Who decides what specific NGO will have pseudo-governmental decision power? So really, who has the power over designating this organization is just a nonprofit and this organization is an NGO?

Well, the only formal decision title of an NGO is awarded by the United Nations and what's called the Economic and Social Council.

And the UN, like any other body, representatives of different regions sit on this ECOSOC committee and vet applicants.

And it's also very politicized.

No, it's not part of that.

They sort of are the secretariat for it, but I don't want to get too much into the weeds, but the UN or the Commission on the Status of Women, as well as the Commission on Social Development, the Commission on Population and Development are all housed within the ECOSOC, the Economic and Social Council, which is one of the charter bodies of the UN.

Okay, there's a number of things I can say about it, but I'll bypass right now.

Special procedures, human rights repertoires, what is that?

The Charter pledges the members of the United Nations to work together toward this end.

The structure of the United Nations in this field is now nearing completion, with the Economic and Social Council, its commissions, and related specialized agencies.

It provides more complete and effective institutions through which to work than the world has ever had before.

A great opportunity lies before us.

And then they publish this new piece.

By the way, they are an official NGO that's affiliated with the United Nations, with ECOSOC.

And then again, at the UN, you look at all the symbolism.

At the UN Geneva building, they have the coffee lounge, which is officially called Serpentine Lounge.

Here's a guy who spent more than half a century engaged in public policy at the international, national, and provincial levels.

He served as Canada's ambassador to the United Nations from 2020 to 25, including a term as president of the UN's Economic and Social Council.

He was the 21st premier of the province of Ontario.

He was the interim leader of the federal liberals.

But human rights, they were placed in the United Nations Charter.

What I also want to say is that thanks to the presence of those organizations in San Francisco, we have Article 71 of the United Nations Charter that regulates consultative relations between the United Nations through the ECOSOC, through the Economic and Social Council, and non-governmental organizations.

And definitely, non-governmental organizations and civil society organizations that were created led to regulating different social spheres of life.

Organizations that were created to bring humanitarian assistance, to fight for human rights, to protect the environment, but also, for instance, to think about how to limit the use, production of different types of weapons, nuclear weapons included.

[cheers] The, uh, former co-host of Crossfire, the syndicated columnist, and the former candidate for president, Pat Buchanan.

[cheers] And the re- and, uh, the former ambassador to the United Nations for Economic and Social Council, also former Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizations, syndicated columnist, and talk show host as well, Alan Keyes.

[cheers] We'll have the same question for all three.

They'll have a minute and a half to answer.