LJUBLJANA/NEW YORK, September 19, 2018 - The International Institute for Middle East and Balkan Studies (IFIMES) received a “special consultative status UN” within the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations (UN), the third most important body within the UN system.
ECOSOC is the principal body for coordination, policy review, policy dialogue and recommendations on economic, social and environmental issues as well as implementation of internationally agreed development goals. It serves as the central mechanism for activities of the UN system and its specialized agencies in the economic, social and environmental fields, supervising subsidiary and expert bodies. It is the United Nation’s central platform for reflection, debate, and innovative thinking on development. It has 54 Members, elected by the General Assembly for overlapping three-year term.
Special consultative status UN implies that the organization can actively engage in various ways and cooperate with the ECOSOC and its auxiliary bodies as well as with the UN Secretariat, funds, and programs and with the agencies of the United Nations. The organization can make written proposals to ECOSOC, assist in the drafting of the agenda, give its opinion if ECOSOC or the UN Secretary-General request and actively participates in the formulation of policies with other non-governmental organizations within the ECOSOC Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations. The UN Secretary-General may also request that an organization having a special consultative status prepares a study or analysis.
Directors of the International Institute for Middle East and Balkan Studies (IFIMES) Assist. Prof. Dr. Zijad Bećirović and Bakhatyar Aljaf are grateful to all the members, the Council and the Advisory Board of the Institute, sponsors, donors, the media, the public and to all who participated and supported the Institute in its long-standing successful work, based on which IFIMES earned a special consultative status at the UN.
Ljubljana/New York, September 19, 2018
