On 07.08.2017 Sozopol Foundation was informed by e-mail by Mr. Marc-Andre Dorel – Acting Chief, NGO Branch, Office for ECOSOC Support and Coordination Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), United Nations, that at the Coordination and Management Meetings held on 25 and 26 of July 2017 the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) has adopted the recommendation of the Committee on Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to grant special consultative status to the Bulgarian NGO.
Consultative status for an organization enables it to actively engage with ECOSOC and its subsidiary bodies, as well as with the United Nations Secretariat, programmes, funds and agencies.
Obligations as well as the privileges are many; the most significant benefit for the Foundation is its right to designate official representatives tothe United Nations headquarters in New York and at the United Nations offices in Geneva and Vienna. These representatives will have the right to participate in events, conferences and activities of the United Nations, and organisations in special consultative status – such as Sozopol Foundation – may designate authorized representatives to sit as observers at public meatings of ECOSOC and its subsidiary bodies, General Assembly, Human Rights Council and other United Nations intergovernmental decision-making bodies.
Sozopol Foundation, conducting its policy and active international activities, was honored to receive the special consultative status at UNDESA. The recognition from August 7 is a step in the development of the Bulgarian organisation, but at the same time it is a major leap for the non-government sector in Bulgaria.
Sozopol Foundation, as the first Bulgarian non-governmental organisation, official partner of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), with two consecutive mandates as a member of the NGO-UNESCO Liaison Committee, carries out its active international activity in the direction of preserving the world’s natural and cultural heritage and providing an accessible environment for people with disabilities to this heritage. Also it will continue its work in this area as a member of NGOs in a consultative partnership with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).