By granting consultative status to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as WAN, ECOSOC creates avenues to participate in formal UN deliberations. Organizations with consultative status can designate official representatives to the UN Headquarters in New York, as well as the UN offices in Geneva and Vienna. They can also designate representatives to participate as observers in public meetings of ECOSOC and its subsidiary bodies, as well as the General Assembly, Human Rights Council and other decision-making bodies. Currently, there are only a handful of animal protection organizations with consultative status at the United Nations.

There are three types of consultative status at the United Nations: Roster, Special and General. Special Consultative Status is granted to NGOs that have a special competence in certain fields of the activities of the Council. The granting of this status to WAN came after an extensive application and recommendation process by the ECOSOC Committee on NGOs. This committee convenes twice a year to recommend consultative status to select organizations. Among other privileges, this status will allow WAN to submit written statements and deliver oral presentations to the Council on matters of animal protection.

Using our new status, we look forward to working to further advance objectives as we envision a humane world for all. We also look forward to other animal protection organizations seeking and receiving consultative status. To learn more about the application process for consultative status with ECOSOC, visit this link.