ECOSOC

Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)

•One of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN).

•
Responsible for the direction and coordination of the
Economic, social, humanitarian, and cultural activities carried
out by the UN.
• UN’s largest body.
Under the UN Charter, ECOSOC is responsible for
promoting higher standards of living, full employment, and
economic and social progress; identifying solutions to
international economic, social and health problems;
facilitating international cultural and educational
cooperation; and encouraging universal respect
•ECOSOC was established by the UN Charter (1945), which
was amended in 1965 and 1974 to increase the number of
members from 18 to 54.
•ECOSOC membership is based on geographic representation:
14 seats are allocated to Africa, 11 to Asia, 6 to Eastern Europe,
10 to Latin America and the Caribbean, and 13 to Western
Europe and other areas.
•Members are elected for three-year terms by the General
Assembly.
•Four of the five permanent members of the Security Council
have been continuously re-elected because they provide funding
for most of ECOSOC’s budget, which is the largest of any UN
subsidiary body.
•Decisions are taken by simple majority vote. The presidency of
ECOSOC changes annually.
•The council was designed to be the UN’s main venue for the
discussion of international economic and social issues.
•ECOSOC conducts studies; formulates resolutions,
recommendations, and conventions for consideration by the
General Assembly; and coordinates the activities of various UN
organizations.
•Most of ECOSOC’s work is performed in functional
commissions on topics such as human rights, narcotics,
population, social development, statistics, the status of women,
and science and technology.
• The council also oversees regional commissions for Europe,
Asia and the Pacific, Western Asia, Latin America, and Africa.
The UN charter allows ECOSOC to grant consultative status to 
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).
UN bodies within the purview of the Economic and Social
Council

Specialized agencies:

• International labour Organization (ILO)

• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
(FAO)
• United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO)
• World Health Organization (WHO)
• World Bank Group
• International Monetary Fund (IMF)
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)
• International Maritime Organization (IMO)
• International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
• Universal Postal Union (UPU)
• World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
• World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
• International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
• United Nations Industrial Development Organization
(UNIDO)
• World Tourism Organization (WTO).
The work of ECOSOC involves so many issues. Commissions to help it.
Some are known as functional commissions. They meet regularly and report
back to it on such issues as human rights, social development, the status of
women, crime prevention, narcotic drugs, and science and technology.

Other regional commissions:

Deal with special problems that people living in different geographical areas
face. ECOSOC has five regional commissions that promote economic
development and cooperation in their respective regions:

•Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)

•Economic Commission for Europe (ECE)
•Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)
•Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)
•Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA)
While the Security Council’s primary responsibility is
maintaining peace, ECOSOC focuses on promoting social
progress and better standards of living. Achieving international
security and social progress go hand in hand.  You can’t have
one without the other. Poverty and the denial of human rights
greatly increase the risk of instability and violence.
Functional commissions

Commission on Population and Development

• Commission for Social Development
• Commission on Human Rights
• Commission on the Status of Women
• Commission on Narcotic Drugs
• Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice
• Commission on Science and Technology for Development
• Commission on Sustainable Development
• United Nations Forum on Forests
 Functions of ECOSOC
Functions and powers of ECOSOC are:
•to serve a the central forum for discussions on international economic
and social issues
•to promote higher standards of living, full employment and economic
and social progress
•to find solutions of international economic, social, health and related
problems, and international cultural and educational cooperation
•to encourage universal respect for and observance of human rights and
fundamental freedoms
•to assist the organization of major international conferences in the
field of economic and social and related fields 
•to make or initiate studies and reports with respect to international
economic and social matters
•to prepare draft conventions for submission to the General Assembly
•to coordinate the work of the specialized agencies and programmes
and their functional commissions and five regional commissions.
•to make arrangements for consultations with non-governmental
organizations
•Research topics include business and economics.  ECOSOC works
with a number of other organizations, including the International
Money Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
•India has been elected as a member of the United Nation’s
Commission on Status of Women, a body of the Economic and Social
Council (ECOSOC). India will be a member of United Nation’s
Commission on Status of Women for four years, 2021 to ‘25.
•India, Afghanistan and China had contested the elections to the
Commission on Status of Women. Even as India and Afghanistan won
the ballot
.
among the 54 members, China could not cross the half-way
mark.

•ECOSOC Founded: 1945.
•ECOSOC President: Munir Akram (Munir Akram was elected
seventy-sixth President of the Economic and Social Council on 23
July 2020. Ambassador Akram is currently the Ambassador and
Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations in New
York)
•ECOSOC Headquarters: New York, United States.
Funds and programmes sending reports to ECOSOC

• United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)

• United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
(UNCTAD)
• United Nations Development Fund for Women
• United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
• United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
• Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR)
• United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
• United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine
Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)
• Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (ODCCP)
• World Food Programme (WFP)
Related bodies
• International Narcotics Control Board

• Board of Trustees of the International Research and Training

Institute for the Advancement of Women

• Committee for the United Nations Population Award

• Programme Coordination Board of the Joint United Nations

Programme on HIV/AID
Standing Committees
• Committee for Programme and Coordination
• Commission on Human Settlements
• Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations
• Committee on Negotiations with Intergovernmental
Agencies
• Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
Reforms
The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is the principal
UN body coordinating the economic and social work of the
organization. Unlike its twin – the Security Council – ECOSOC
enjoys little authority in international policymaking. The UN
charter places ECOSOC under the authority of the General
Assembly, allowing the body to issue policy recommendations to
the UN system and member states.
Other international institutions such as the World Bank, the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Trade
Organization (WTO) have assumed leadership in the field of
global economic policy.
 Lack democratic processes, transparency, and accountability, and
they represent richer states' interests over poor countries'
development.
Some reform advocates argue that the 54 member council is too
large for constructive negotiations, and should be replaced with a
smaller more efficient "Social and Economic Security Council."