| United Nations | E/C.2/1995/2/Add.7 |
Economic and Social Council
Distr. GENERAL
6 December 1994
ORIGINAL: ENGLISH
COMMITTEE ON NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
20-31 March 1995
Item 4 of the provisional agenda*
* E/C.2/1995/1.
QUADRENNIAL REPORTS ON THE ACTIVITIES OF NON-GOVERNMENTAL
ORGANIZATIONS IN CONSULTATIVE STATUS WITH THE ECONOMIC
AND SOCIAL COUNCIL, CATEGORIES I AND II
Quadrennial reports, 1990-1993
Reports submitted through the Secretary-General pursuant
to Economic and Social Council resolution 1296 (XLIV) of
3 May 1968
Addendum
Note
In accordance with Economic and Social Council resolution
1296 (XLIV) on arrangements for consultation with non-governmental
organizations, organizations in consultative status in categories I
and II shall submit to the Committee on Non-Governmental
Organizations, through the Secretary-General, every fourth year a
brief report of their activities, specifically as regards the support
they have given to the work of the United Nations. Based on findings
of the Committee's examination of the report and other relevant
information, the Committee may recommend to the Council any
reclassification in status of the organization concerned as it deems
appropriate.
At its 1981 session, the Committee decided that quadrennial
reports submitted by non-governmental organizations should be limited
to no more than two single-spaced pages. At its 1989 session, the
Committee stressed the need for non-governmental organizations
required to submit quadrennial reports to provide the Secretariat with
clear and timely information, including, inter alia, a brief
introductory statement recalling the aims and purposes of the
organization.
At its 1991 session, the Committee emphasized the need for
non-governmental organizations requested to submit quadrennial reports
to provide a clear picture of their activities as they related to the
United Nations. The Committee further noted that the reports should
conform to the guidelines elaborated by the Non-Governmental
Organizations Unit pursuant to the relevant decisions of the Committee
(see E/1991/20, para. 47). The Committee decided that only those
reports elaborated in conformity with the guidelines and submitted to
the Non-Governmental Organizations Unit no later than 1 June of the
year preceding the Committee's session would be transmitted to the
Committee for consideration. The Committee recalled that
organizations failing to submit adequate reports on time would be
subject to reclassification in status that the Committee might deem
appropriate, in conformity with paragraph 40 (b) of Council resolution
1296 (XLIV) (see E/1991/20, para. 48). Pursuant to these decisions,
the Secretariat, in December 1993, communicated to all relevant
organizations guidelines for the completion of quadrennial reports.
The material issued in the present series of documents
(E/C.2/1995/2 and addenda) has been reproduced as submitted and
therefore reflects the policies and terminology of the organizations
concerned. The designations employed do not imply the expression of
any opinion whatsoever on the part of the United Nations Secretariat
concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or
of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or
boundaries.
Supplementary material, such as annual reports and samples of
publications, is available in the Non-Governmental Organizations
Section of the Department for Policy Coordination and Sustainable
Development of the United Nations Secretariat.
CONTENTS
Page
Note ..................................................................... 2
1. Anglican Consultative Council ....................................... 4
2. Catholic Relief Services ............................................ 7
3. International Federation for Housing and Planning ................... 9
4. International Institute of Higher Studies in Criminal Sciences ...... 12
5. International Rural Housing Association ............................. 16
6. International Council on Jewish Social and Welfare Services ......... 17
1. ANGLICAN CONSULTATIVE COUNCIL
(Category II)
The Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) is a coordinating body for
the life and ministry of the 32 autonomous Churches (Provinces) of the
world-wide Anglican Communion, a global network of 70 million members
in 160 countries. As a truly diverse international body comprised of
men and women, young and old, from every corner of the world, ACC is
uniquely able to consult, consider, and coordinate Anglican affairs.
The Council's work involves communication, ecumenism, interreligious
dialogue and cooperation, and social concerns such as human rights,
environment, social justice and development.
The Anglican Consultative Council was granted consultative status
(category II) with the Economic and Social Council of the United
Nations in 1985. However, for the next five years funds were not
available to hire staff who would be responsible for relating to the
United Nations. That would change dramatically between 1990 and 1993.
1990
In 1990 funds became available for the first time for a staff of
two persons and an office in close proximity to United Nations
Headquarters. ACC went to work to put its modest funds to good use by
recruiting the finest leadership possible to start the ACC United
Nations Office.
1991
In its first year of operation, the ACC United Nations Office
devoted much energy to the establishment of working relationships with
member States, the United Nations Secretariat and agencies, and the
NGO community. The main representative of ACC had numerous meetings
with United Nations Ambassadors to share concerns of the Anglican
Communion. ACC attended the preparatory committee meetings of the
United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED),
participated in UNCED-related NGO activities, and assisted in drafting
an interreligious version of an "Earth Charter" that was to be
considered in Rio de Janeiro. ACC also participated in the Working
Group on Indigenous Populations of the Sub-Commission on Prevention of
Discrimination and Protection of Minorities of the Commission on Human
Rights.
Also in 1991, the main representative was contracted by UNEP to be
a consultant on environment and religious affairs. In September ACC
hosted a service at Trinity Church, Wall Street, in which former
President Jimmy Carter gave an address to mark the opening of the
forty-sixth session of the General Assembly. This public event was
well attended by staff of the United Nations system, member States,
and the NGO community.
In November 1991 the main representative called NGOs and United
Nations staff to explore the possibility of creating an NGO committee
on the International Year of the World's Indigenous People. The
Committee was established as a CONGO Committee in late 1991, and the
main representative served as Chair until his departure in
December 1993.
1992
In January the main representative of ACC chaired the first
meeting that brought together NGOs, member States and United Nations
agency and Secretariat staff to discuss the International Year of the
World's Indigenous People. He continued his work as Chair of the NGO
Committee on the International Year of the World's Indigenous People
and as a UNEP consultant, and attended the first technical meeting on
the International Year coordinated by the Centre for Human Rights, in
Geneva. As in 1991, ACC participated in the 1992 session of the
Working Group on Indigenous Populations.
ACC participated in the preparatory committee meetings of UNCED,
then attended and continued to be active in drafting the "Earth
Charter".
In May, ACC hosted the first visit ever by an Archbishop of
Canterbury to the United Nations. The Archbishop met with high-level
officials of UNICEF and the secretariat for UNCED. The visit
culminated in a meeting with the Secretary-General of the United
Nations, which has resulted in an ongoing and positive relationship
between the two.
Together with two other NGO representatives, the representative of
ACC met with the Chair of the Committee on NGOs, to discuss the role
of NGOs in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council.
In conjunction with the opening of the International Year in
December 1992, as Chair of the NGO Committee on the International Year
of the World's Indigenous People, ACC co-hosted, with the Centre for
Human Rights and the ILO, a meeting of indigenous peoples and members
of United Nations programmes and specialized agencies. This was the
first meeting of its type.
1993
In February ACC participated in the forty-ninth Session of the
Commission on Human Rights, making both oral and written
interventions. Also in February, the main representative established
a working relationship with UNDP which resulted in educational
mailings being sent by UNDP to Anglicans world wide. ACC attended
sessions of the Commission on Sustainable Development and participated
in the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna.
As in 1991 and 1992, ACC participated in the 1993 session of the
Working Group on Indigenous Populations.
In 1993 ACC established a relationship between UNICEF and the
Anglican Province of Uganda which has resulted in two UNICEF/Church
joint projects on preventative AIDS education for youth in that
afflicted country. The joint projects involve funding by UNICEF of
over one quarter of a million dollars per year to the Anglican Church
of Uganda for educational materials and training. The 1994 target is
to reach over one half million youth.
2. CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES
(Category II)
Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is the relief and development
agency of the United States Catholic Conference, operating in 80
countries of Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Latin America and
the Caribbean. CRS programmes parallel the aims and concerns of the
Economic and Social Council. In its operations CRS has an ongoing
cooperative relationship with several United Nations programmes and
agencies: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations
Children's Fund (UNICEF), Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), United Nations Disaster Relief
Organization (UNDRO), the Department of Humanitarian Affairs of the
United Nations, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations (FAO), World Food Programme (WFP) and World Health
Organization (WHO).
Participation in the Economic and Social Council
and other United Nations bodies
CRS has been represented at sessions of the Economic and Social
Council, both at Headquarters and Geneva, and at meetings of the
Executive Committee of UNHCR and the UNICEF Executive Board.
In January 1992 CRS was represented at Headquarters at the donor
meeting for the Horn of Africa and in June at the Africa donors'
meeting in Geneva.
CRS regularly attends briefings of UNHCR and the Department of
Humanitarian Affairs in Geneva.
Catholic Relief Services programmes averaging $285 million
annually during the reporting period included development,
humanitarian assistance and service to refugees.
Development
Programmes aimed at achieving sustainable development include
increasing the ability of the poorest to produce food, gain access to
pure drinking water and, through small enterprise development
projects, acquire basic skills and small, start-up loans enabling them
to become self-supporting. In many of the countries where CRS is
working there is a cooperative relationship with field staff of United
Nations agencies - e.g., UNDP, UNICEF, and FAO. In some instances CRS
projects have received support from United Nations agencies - for
example, from UNICEF in the Gambia, for a literacy and numeracy
programme; and in Cambodia, from UNDP and UNICEF for school
construction and primary health care.
Humanitarian assistance
Through its office in Geneva CRS is in close contact with the
Department of Humanitarian Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat.
At Headquarters, in New York, the Director of the CRS Africa Region
discussed CRS programmes in that region with the newly appointed
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs.
In the reporting period CRS provided assistance to the victims of
various natural disasters, such as volcanic eruption in the
Philippines and a cyclone in Bangladesh. Aid was provided to victims
of war and civil strife in several countries, including Angola,
Liberia, Iraq and Croatia. An UNDRO grant in 1991 aided the CRS
emergency programme in Liberia.
CRS offices were opened in Croatia, Bosnia and the former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia.
Assistance was provided throughout the reporting period to victims
of famine in several African countries. In the latter programmes CRS
has effectively utilized commodities provided by the World Food
Programme (WFP).
WFP also provided assistance for the CRS drought emergency
programme in north-east Brazil in 1993. CRS has reopened an office in
Brazil.
Services to refugees
In the reporting period CRS responded to refugee needs in various
parts of the world. In Pakistan projects for Afghan refugees
involving vocational training and basic health education services were
carried out with the assistance of UNHCR. UNHCR also assisted with a
CRS emergency shelter project in the former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia and with hospital reconstruction in Cambodia.
Dissemination of information
CRS country offices are provided with relevant United Nations
materials. These are also shared with local counterpart agencies.
Educational materials on development, prepared by the CRS
Development Education Office, are disseminated through elementary and
secondary schools, colleges and universities, parishes and local
groups throughout the United States.
3. INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION FOR HOUSING AND PLANNING
(Fe'de'ration internationale pour l'habitation, l'urbanisme
et l'ame'nagement des territoires - FIHUAT)
(Internationaler Verband fu"r Wohnungswesen, Sta"dtebau
und Raumordnung - IVWSR)
(Category II)
Aims and purposes
The overall objective of IFHP is to improve general knowledge in
housing, planning, environment and related fields, and thereby to
improve housing and planning practice throughout the world. IFHP has
consultative status with WHO and UNESCO.
Participation in meetings related to the United Nations
and its subsidiary bodies
IFHP has a permanent representation at United Nations Headquarters
and at the headquarters of various intergovernmental and non-
governmental organizations: United Nations (Geneva), UNESCO (Paris),
the Economic Commission for Europe (Geneva). It participates, in
Geneva, in committees dealing with human settlements and transport.
It has been represented since 1990 at the sessions of the United
Nations Environment Programme and the United Nations Centre for Human
Settlements (Nairobi). It was represented at the United Nations
Conference on Environment and Development, in Rio de Janeiro, in 1993.
It participates in the work of the Commission on Sustainable
Development which is mainly concerned with following up on the
Conference on Environment and Development. It leads, at the Council
of Europe, in Strasbourg, the NGO sectorial groups on cities and their
interrelations and participates in the rural sectorial group and the
NGO Liaison Committee. It participated in the meetings of the
Preparatory Committee for the World Conference on Human Rights (1993).
International events organized by IFHP
Congresses
(a) 1990, Dublin: Development Policies for Rural Areas, Small
towns and Urban Regions;
(b) 1991, Berlin: Urban Regions in a New Social, Economic and
Political Context;
(c) 1992, Jerusalem: National, Regional and Urban Restructuring
in the Wake of Rapid Changes;
(d) 1993, Helsinki: Cities for Tomorrow: Directions for Change.
International conferences, seminars
(a) Amsterdam (Netherlands), Quality of Urban Living: The
Challenge for Non-Profit Housing, 1990;
(b) Tampere (Finland), New Uses of Old Industrial Buildings and
Complexes, 1990;
(c) Stockholm/Helsinki (Sweden/Finland), Underground Planning and
Mapping, 1990;
(d) Brussels, Europe 2000, Workshop jointly organized by the
European Council of Town Planners and IFHP, 1991;
(e) Amsterdam/Almere (Netherlands), Living on the Waterfront,
1992;
(f) Maastricht (Netherlands), Improving the Environment: New
Tasks for Urban and Regional Planning, 1993.
East/West seminars
Several IFHP seminars was organized to establish close cooperation
between the countries of Eastern and Western Europe:
(a) Siofok (Hungary), on housing, 1990;
(b) Zaborow (Poland), on urban land policy, 1991;
(c) Prague (Czech Republic), on urban transportation planning,
1991;
(d) Riga (Lithuania), on legislation for urban and regional
planning, 1992.
IFHP research, information and development centres organized
workshops on urban and building climatology, in cooperation with the
university of Tel Aviv (Israel) and on urban development for historic
towns, in cooperation with Vuva Brno (Czech Republic).
Events organized with the cooperation of IFHP
(a) International Congress of the Polish Town Planners Society:
Challenges and Choices in Physical Planning and Development (Warsaw);
(b) Hydropolis: the Role of Water in Urban Planning, an
international workshop convened by the National Committees of the
Netherlands and of Germany for the International Hydrological
Programme of UNESCO and the Hydrology Programme of WMO.
Publications
IFHP published papers on its East/West seminars and the magazine
Prospect.
4. INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF HIGHER STUDIES IN CRIMINAL SCIENCES
(Instituto Superiore Internazionale di Scienze Criminali)
(Institut Superieur International des Sciences Criminelles)
(Category II)
Nature and structure
The Institute has a cooperation agreement with the Crime
Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch and is one of its affiliated
Institutes. It also enjoys consultative status with the Council of
Europe.
The Institute was founded in Siracusa in September 1972 by the
International Association of Penal Law (which is a United Nations NGO
in consultative status, category II), the Sicilian region, the city,
province and Chamber of Commerce of Siracusa, and the city of Noto.
It is recognized as a public not-for-profit, scientific and
educational foundation by a decree of the President of Italy.
The Governing Body of the Institute is an independent 25-member
Board of Directors, 16 of whom are internationally renowned scholars
elected by the Conseil de direction of the International Association
of Penal Law.
The above-mentioned local government entities are the main funding
sources of the Institute. Other grants from major international
sources fund some of the Institute's activities.
Purposes
The Institute is a scientific institution devoted to higher
education, training, studies and research in all the areas of criminal
sciences, including human rights. It also pursues a leadership role
in developing United Nations norms and standards in the field of
international and comparative criminal justice and human rights.
International conferences and seminars held at the Institute bring
together jurists from all legal systems and all parts of the world in
a politically neutral environment, rich of learning and open to the
free exchange of ideas.
In addition to scientific work of the highest academic standard,
the Institute also provides an atmosphere that promotes better
understanding among peoples of the world and peace among nations.
Programmes, activities and publications
From 1990 to 1994, the Institute conducted 49 programmes, with the
participation of 3,391 jurists from 87 countries.
As of 1994, 84 books of Institute proceedings had been published.
Some of the proceedings of the Institute's activities are contained in
the Revue internationale de droit pe'nal and Nouvelles e'tudes
pe'nales. Others are published in-house by the Institute in the
series Quaderni. The Institute also has publishing agreements with
two major Italian publishing companies, Cedam and Jovene, for the
publications in Italian. In addition, the Superior Council of Judges
(Consiglio Superiore della Magistratura) has published five books of
conference proceedings which it cosponsored with the Institute. Major
book publishers in the United States, France, Italy, Lebanon and the
Netherlands have also published some of the Institute's proceedings.
These publications have been published in Arabic, English, French,
Italian and Spanish, and they received world-wide distribution.
Activities
The activities of the Institute include international seminars,
conferences and meetings of experts, interregional programmes, and
national and local conferences and seminars.
International conferences and seminars
International seminars are essentially educational and are
conducted as a form of continuing legal education and sometimes as
technical assistance for some countries. They are attended by
academics, judges, government officials, lawyers and young law
graduates.
International conferences are related to the work of the United
Nations and of the Council of Europe. They are also on subjects of
contemporary interest to the international scholarly community. Such
meetings gather the world's leading authorities in the field of
criminal sciences.
Meetings of experts are organized at the request or in cooperation
with the United Nations and the Council of Europe to prepare draft
international instruments and to prepare for specific meetings, such
as United Nations Congresses on Crime Prevention and the Treatment of
Offenders. Many of these meetings have produced significant
international instruments.
Interregional programmes
In 1985 the Institute started the far-reaching Human Rights
Programme for the Arab World with a series of conferences and
seminars. In total, 14 programmes were held with the participation of
over 1,300 jurists from 17 Arab States and Palestine. In December
1985, the first conference, Criminal Justice Reform and Human Rights
Education, was held. Sixty-seven jurists from 12 Arab countries and
Palestine attended it. As a result, a committee of experts convened
in December 1986 to prepare a draft Arab charter on people's and human
rights. Sixty-six distinguished Arab personalities from 12 Arab
countries and Palestine attended the meeting. The draft Arab charter
was submitted to the League of Arab States and to all Heads of State
in the Arab world. It also received the support of the Arab Lawyers
Union, which represents over 100,000 lawyers in Arab countries.
A series of 14 seminars have been held on teaching human rights in
Arab law schools, judicial training centres, police academies and the
military justice programmes. Four volumes of proceedings were
published and distributed to educators and libraries in the Arab
world. By the end of 1991, eight law schools offered human rights
courses annually, and several judicial training institutes and police
academies include human rights education as part of their programmes.
Additionally, in 1990-1992, the Institute introduced a series of five-
week programmes for senior graduate students from the Arab region,
with the purpose of familiarizing a new generation of jurists with the
problem of human rights protection in the Arab world. Nine books were
published in Arabic, and several thousand copies were distributed
throughout the Arab world.
Some of these programmes were held in cooperation with the Crime
Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch, the Centre for Human Rights,
and the Council of Europe.
In cooperation with the Centre for Human Rights and the Crime
Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch, the Institute commenced a
programme for African jurists on the protection of human rights in
criminal proceedings. One seminar was held in 1991 for jurists from
East Africa; another will be held in 1995 for African jurists from
Portuguese-speaking countries.
National and local conferences and seminars
The Institute conducts conferences and seminars for Italian
professors, judges, lawyers and researchers.
Scientific activities
The conferences, seminars, and meetings of experts conducted by
the Institute have covered the entire range of criminal justice
studies: international criminal law; criminal law and procedure;
comparative criminal law and procedure; international and regional
protection of human rights; criminology and comparative criminology;
legal psychology; penology; and criminal justice policy.
United Nations relevant achievements
The Institute has undertaken a number of international
initiatives, including the organizations of committees of experts of
the United Nations and preparatory experts meeting for the Sixth, Seventh and
Eighth Congresses on Crime Prevention and the Treatment of Offenders. The
same also took place with respect to the Council of Europe committees
of experts who met in order to elaborate certain international
instruments.
The most important result of these meetings was the preparation,
by a committee of experts in 1977, of the draft convention on the
prevention and suppression of torture. The draft text was formally
submitted to the United Nations in 1978. The General Assembly adopted
the Convention in 1984.
Many other international instruments have been elaborated at the
Institute, on such subjects as the independence of the judiciary and
the legal profession, protection of the rights of the mentally ill,
crime prevention and criminal justice in the context of developments,
the transfer of prisoners, the transfer of criminal proceedings,
extradition, enforcement of sentences, states of emergency and
derogations to the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, and the suppression of unlawful human experimentation.
5. INTERNATIONAL RURAL HOUSING ASSOCIATION
(Category II)
The International Rural Housing Association is a non-profit,
non-governmental, international association concerned with rural
housing. Five new members joined the Association in 1990: two from
Honduras, one from the United States, and two from Uruguay.
An agreement signed between the University of the Andes (Me'rida,
Venezuela), the National Council for the Investigation of Sciences and
Technology, and the Health Ministry of Venezuela, was coordinated by
the International Rural Housing Association, in order to promote the
development of rural dwellings, according to bioclimatic zone (medium,
mountainous, andean and coastal) and cultural region.
Cooperation with United Nations programmes
Upon recommendations of the United Nations, and to commemorating
World Habitat Day, the prize "National Habitat
Leopoldo Martinez Olavarria" was created by the National Housing
Council (Consejo Nacional de la Vivienda), Venezuela, and was awarded
to the President of the International Rural Housing Association, in
1992.
In 1993 on the occasion of World Habitat Day, the International
Rural Housing Association was nominated for the prize, the Department
of Malariology and Environmental Sanitation (a section of the Public
Health Ministry of Venezuela) for its continuous activities in the
tasks of rural housing and sanitation.
Between 1990 and 1993, the Association continued its housing
programmes in the public and private sectors.
The Association receives and transmits technical information in
the field of rural housing and environmental sanitation by means of
bulletins and pamphlets and disseminates all relevant documentation
received from the United Nations.
In the field of rural housing and sanitation, the Association
collaborates with universities - public and private, national and
international, at the post-graduate level. The Association
participated in the organization of a post-graduate course in rural
settlements being given at the University of the Andes in Me'rida,
Venezuela. The course is divided into two sections: Drawing and
rural buildings, and Planning the rural environment.
In 1993 an agreement was signed between the Association and the
Foundation Becas Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho, creating two scholarships
for the Arturo Ortiz Prize. One is destined for a Venezuelan post-
graduate, the other for a Latin American student in rural settlement
at the University of the Andes.
6. INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL ON JEWISH SOCIAL AND WELFARE SERVICES
(Category II)
The member organizations of the International Council on Jewish
Social Welfare Services (hereinafter called INTERCO) are actively
involved with United Nations organizations and other voluntary
agencies. They administer a budget of approximately S300 million in
Europe, Latin, America, Asia and Africa, serving 500,000 individuals
throughout the world in the field of social assistance, vocational
training, education, agricultural assistance, economic rehabilitation,
health services, emigration, resettlement and related sectors,
primarily for Jewish communities.
The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and Central
British Fund for World Jewish Relief, members of INTERCO, continue
with their work in the field of relief and development programmes. In
implementing these programmes they work closely with United Nations
agencies, the International Red Cross, the United States agency for
International Development, the Christian Relief and Development Agency
and other voluntary agencies.
The Yugoslav relief programme was initiated in 1992 and included
medical aid, food provision and evacuations, primarily in Sarajevo.
Cooperation was established with the International Red Cross, Mehemet,
CARITAS and other voluntary organizations.
Programmes world-wide in the past four years have included relief
and welfare, care and maintenance of transmigrants, health services,
education, manpower development and services to the aged.
The International Development Programme was created in 1986 to
respond to national disasters and the need for long-range development
projects in underprivileged communities. With the American Jewish
Joint Distribution Committee, it undertakes recovery and
rehabilitation projects in cooperation with governmental and
international agencies, foundations and non-sectarian sources, such as
a rehabilitation centre for children in Armenia, the airlift of
Armenian amputees to Israel for surgery and prostheses, a day care
project in Kenya with UNICEF, a dental project in Morocco, in
conjunction with the Ministry of Health and other agencies, and an eye
treatment project in Zimbabwe, in conjunction with the Agricultural
and Rural Authority.
The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, a specialized migration agency,
participates in all efforts to move migrants and refugees in a manner
designed to make such action as smooth as possible, bearing in mind
the humanitarian and psychological problems involved in the
displacement of individuals or groups of people. Although a sectarian
agency, the Aid Society does not limit its activities to the
settlement of members of the Jewish faith; it is also active in
programmes for the resettlement of Afghanis, Ethiopians and Cubans in
the United States. It works closely with the offices of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva, Rome, Vienna
and Athens and with the International Organization for Migration and
with the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The World Organization for Educational Resources and Technological
Training, a member of INTERCO, has implemented over 200 projects in
54 developing countries in the field of technical assistance,
including vocational and technical education, agricultural and rural
infrastructure and transportation systems. It serves as a technical
consultant to various bodies and specialized agencies of the United
Nations, especially to the United Nations Development Programme and
the World Bank. It is a consultant to many Governments on technical
assistance. In addition to its technical assistance programme, it
operates technical high schools and colleges in 30 countries with
student enrolment of over 200,000. Its educators work to prepare
students to meet the challenges of the world-wide technical
revolution. It has special programmes to assist children and adults
with special educational needs.
INTERCO, as the coordinating body for a group of social service
and humanitarian agencies, has goals parallel to those of many of the
United Nations organizations. It regularly attends and participates
in meetings of the UNHCR, WHO, the Human Rights Commission and other
United Nations bodies.
At regular statutory meetings of INTERCO, twice yearly, the
programmes of member organizations are reviewed. In this way INTERCO
seeks to implement relevant United Nations resolutions and decisions
having a bearing on the specific activities of INTERCO members.
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