NEW YORK, JANUARY 5 – With the beginning of 2002, Italy returned to a seat in the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations for its tenth mandate within the UN platform for fostering debate and innovative thinking, forging consensus on ways forward, and coordinating efforts to achieve internationally agreed goals. The UN Charter established the Council in 1945 as one of the six main organs of the United Nations: at the end of the new three-year period, in 2024, Italy will have been a member for 38 of the 79 years of ECOSOC’s life.
The Economic and Social Council is at the heart of the United Nations system to advance the three dimensions of sustainable development – economic, social and environmental. As a member of ECOSOC, Italy intends to maintain its efforts, actively contributing to the UN mandate with a special focus on areas impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Italy will act in synergy with the many Italian NGOs accredited to the ECOSOC to bring the UN closer to the needs and demands of civil society.
Italy was elected in June with 175 votes out of the 182 voting countries, the best result for a Western country. 54 members in rotation are part of the ECOSOC: 14 are African countries, 11 from Asia and the Pacific, 6 from Eastern Europe; 10 from Latin America and the Caribbean and 13 among Western countries. (@Onuitalia)