PART
II PRINCIPLES
GOVERNING THE NATURE OF THE CONSULTATIVE ARRANGEMENTS 18.- A clear distinction is drawn in the Charter of the
United Nations between participation without vote in the deliberations
of the Council and the arrangements for consultation. Under Articles 69 and 70, participation is provided for
only in the case of States not members of the Council, and of
specialized agencies. Article
71, applying to non-governmental organizations, provides for suitable
arrangements for consultation. This
distinction, deliberately made in the Charter, is fundamental and the
arrangements for consultation should not be such as to accord to
non-governmental organizations the same rights of participation as are
accorded to States not members of the Council and to the specialized
agencies brought into relationship with the United Nations. 19.- The arrangements should not be such as to
overburden the Council or transform it from a body for coordination of
policy and action, as contemplated in the Charter, into a general
forum for discussion. 20.- Decisions on arrangements for consultation should
be guided by the principle that consultative arrangements are to be
made, on the one hand, for the purpose of enabling the Council or one
of its bodies to secure expert information or advice from
organizations having special competence in the subjects for which
consultative arrangements are made, and, on the other hand, to enable
international, regional, subregional and national organizations that
represent important elements of public opinion to express their views.
Therefore, the arrangements for consultation made with each
organization should relate to the subjects for which that organization
has a special competence or in which it has a special interest.
The organizations given consultative status should be limited
to those whose activities in fields set out in paragraph 1 above
qualify them to make a significant contribution to the work of the
Council and should, in sum, as far as possible reflect in a balanced
way the major viewpoints or interests in these fields in all areas and
regions of the world. |