In news– India’s Ruchira Kamboj(Permanent Representative of India to the UN, Ambassador) has been elected as the Chair of the 62nd Session of the UN Commission for Social Development recently.
Key updates-
- For the 62nd session, the priority theme of the session is decided as “Fostering Social Development and Social Justice through Social Policies to accelerate Progress on the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and to achieve the overarching goal of poverty eradication.”
- “The theme underlines an intrinsic and important connection between social development and social justice as fundamentals to achieving the SDGs.
- Along with India as the Chair, the commission also elected Jon Ivanovski (North Macedonia), Carla María Carlson (Dominican Republic), and Thomas Lammar (Luxembourg) as Vice-Chairs of the 62nd session.
- On the final day (February 15) of its 61st session, the commission decided to forward four draft resolutions to the Economic and Social Council for adoption (ECOSOC).
- The Chair of the 61st session of the commission was Alya Ahmed bin Saif Al-Thani, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Qatar.
About the UN Commission for Social Development-
- It is one of the key commissions tasked with monitoring and carrying out the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action.
- It was established by the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), one of the six main organs of the United Nations.
- The commission’s goal is to advise the ECOSOC, particularly on those social issues that are not dealt with by specialized intergovernmental organisations.
- Members: Originally 18, membership has been increased several times, most recently in 1996, and now stands at 46. Members are elected by ECOSOC based on equitable geographical distribution (as noted in the following list) for four-year terms.
- Since the World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen in 1995, the Commission for Social Development (CSocD) has been the key United Nations body in charge of the follow up and implementation of the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action.
- Originally known as the Social Commission but renamed in 1966.
- Its purpose was to advise ECOSOC on social policies of a general character and, in particular, on all matters in the social field not covered by the specialised inter-governmental agencies. The Commission’s mandate was further developed by ECOSOC resolutions.
- Since 2006, the Commission has taken up key social development themes as part of its follow up to the outcome of the Copenhagen Summit.
Further reading https://journalsofindia.com/india-joins-un-ecosoc/
Source: AIR
