Since the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations recommended the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), UN, to grant Special Consultative Status for the All-Russian MS Society at the beginning of this year in New-York, which President Yan Vlasov attended and spoke at, some 6 months have passed. Yet, the long-awaited news could not reach us sooner.

 At its substantive session in July, 2012, ECOSOC adopted the recommendation. It remains to be seen what new opportunities are open for us now.

However, we can reveal something following the event. ECOSOC, the Consultative Status of which our Society has just got, seeks to have consultative bodies or organizations with a special expertise and insights in localized issues of certain countries so that precise objectives be shaped and productive answers found together with UN’s resources. As we can see, these common objectives are quite a few.

It was hardly surprising that ARMSS’ activities would encourage close attention of international agencies and professional communities from all over the world since long ago. What happened at the United Nations in July proves there is an interest of another level: Since now on, the ARMSS’ opinion is considered more significant than before and will be heard to make strategies of national and global importance.

The Economic and Social Council provides various support to non-governmental organizations in consultative status. Beyond that the ARMSS enters another stage of its development, the consultative status with ECOSOC as a respectful marker will surely allow the Society’s majority to faster resolve our internal issues. This is not a pretext to slacken the intensity of our work but quite the opposite: Those were Herculean efforts of ARMSS’ services and branches in regions that enabled us to be with ECOSOC now.

Notification about the special consultative status with ECOSOC, UN

Pavel Zlobin