UNITED NATIONS, May 06 (APP): The UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) responded to the unprecedented coronavirus pandemic with precision as the 54-member body pushed for global equitable access to vaccines, Pakistani Ambassador Munir Akram has said.
“I think that the ECOSOC has responded with clarity,” Ambassador Akram, who is also the president of ECOSOC, said in the course of a high-level interactive dialogue to commemorate the International Day of Multilateralism and Diplomacy for Peace on Wednesday.
This event featured the heads of the five principal organs of the United Nations -– the Presidents of the Geneeral Assembly, the Security Council, the ECOSOC, the International Court of Justice and the Secretary-General.
Ambassador Akram said the Covid-19 highlighted the need for multilateralism to address the pandemic, noting that while science succeeded, solidarity has so far failed.
The ECOSOC, he said, had convene special meetings on different aspects of the pandemic and made several recommendations for action to counter it.
Answering to a question, Ambassador Akram underscored the role of United Nations and the system it has put in place, saying the global society would not be able to functions without the UN.
“The United Nations can be improved, certainly there are many things that can be done better and we should attempt to do that better,” the ECOSOC chief said.
He said while the ECOSOC is an open, multi-stakeholder organization, the Security Council is restrictive.
There is a genuine desire for greater stakeholder participation in multilateral processes, Ambassador Akram said.
In this regard, he said, greater participation from the private sector was needed in the work of the United Nations as also in the work of the Security Council.
“We talk about multi-stakeholder entities in the Security Council, (but) even its non-members are often not able to participate,” he said, adding a lot of improvement is required in multilateral processes.
