[WSIS CS-Plenary] deconstructing the UN org chart

[Rik Panganiban]

Bill, et al,

I recall a discussion with the President of ECOSOC in July on this 
issue of the Bretton Woods Institutions and their relationship to 
ECOSOC.  He said that while the BWIs don't mind "coordinating" their 
activities with ECOSOC, they don't want to "be coordinated."  I.e. they 
are happy send regular reports to ECOSOC, but don't want ECOSOC telling 
them what to do.  I imagine the ITU has a similar position.

The reality is that ECOSOC is not in a political position to impose its 
will on other international agencies.

Rik Panganiban
CONGO

On Aug 31, 2005, at 11:27 AM, William Drake wrote:

> Hi,
>  
> The UN org chart does show ITU being one of a number of organizations 
> that are linked to ECOSOC, via a dotted line.  But the precise nature 
> of these links are unclear.  For example, the org chart also shows the 
> Bretton Woods orgs (World Bank, IMF, WTO) being linked to ECOSOC.  I 
> once asked someone at WTO about that and she replied that the UN is 
> prone to wishful thinking.  In any event, I've never heard anyone at 
> either WTO or ITU say there was any sort of real coordination, much 
> less a reporting relationship with, the UN generally or ECOSOC 
> specifically.  So since  I was over at ITU today, I asked the head of 
> strategic planning in the SG's office.  Per my previous message, he 
> said that ITU has historically had little to nothing to do with the 
> UN, except for involvement in the COPOUS framework for peaceful uses 
> of outer space, and now WSIS.  However, ITU does generate an annual 
> report which is pro forma sent out to lots of relevant organizations, 
> inter alia to the UN SG, other IGOs, and he supposed why not, ECOSOC, 
> but that's the extent of it.  So they don't "report to" in the sense 
> that their activities must be reviewed and approved, but they do send 
> a courtesy copy of 'this is what we've been doing in the past year.'  
> Perhaps that's what the dotted line on the org chart means...?
>  
> Best,
>  
> Bill
>  
>> From: plenary-admin at wsis-cs.org [mailto:plenary-admin at wsis-cs.org] On 
>> Behalf Of John Mathiason
>> Sent: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 15:36:02 -0400
>> To: plenary at wsis-cs.org;
>> Subject: : [WSIS CS-Plenary] Drastic changes to the proposed WSIS 
>> implementation mechanisms in the new text
>>  
>>
>>
>> Jean-Louis,
>>  
>> All of the Specialized Agencies of the United Nations (including ITU)
>> report to ECOSOC.  This is part of the relationship agreement into
>> which they entered when the United Nations was founded.  Now that the
>> WSIS has been given status as a UN conference, it also reports to the
>> General Assembly.  Whether or not ECOSOC does anything with the
>> reports, of course, is up to ECOSOC, but the General Assembly will be
>> expected to act on whatever is adopted by WSIS.
>>  
>> Regards,
>>  
>> John
>>  
>>  
>>  
===============================================
RIK PANGANIBAN       Communications Coordinator
Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations 
(CONGO)
web: http://www.ngocongo.org
email: rik.panganiban at ngocongo.org
mobile: (+1) 917-710-5524

* Information on the WSIS at http://www.ngocongo.org/wsis
* Information on Millennium+5 at http://www.ngocongo.org/mdg
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: text/enriched
Size: 4150 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://mailman-new.greennet.org.uk/pipermail/plenary/attachments/20050831/c55bc296/attachment.bin