Tutu urges U.N. body to overturn rejection of U.S.-based NGO

Reuters

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - South African Nobel peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu has written to members of a key United Nations body urging them to overturn the rejection of a U.N. accreditation request by the civil society organization Freedom Now. Tutu is honorary chairman of Freedom Now, a U.S.-based NGO that works to free prisoners of conscience worldwide. Earlier this month the 19-member U.N. Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) rejected Freedom Now’s application for consultative status at the United Nations. Following that rejection, the request will move to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), a 54-nation body which oversees the NGO committee, for a vote next month. "The mission and activities of this organization contribute greatly to the spirit and operation of the U.N.," Tutu said in a letter to ECOSOC members seen by Reuters on Tuesday. "Freedom Now not only is entitled to consultative status because it meets the requirements ... it deserves such a distinction because it contributes to the mandate of the U.N.," he said. According to Freedom Now, South Africa - Tutu's home - was one of the 11 members of the NGO committee that voted against accrediting Freedom Now, which would give it access to U.N. premises and conferences. The others that voted against it - all of which are often critical of the Western human rights agenda - were: Azerbaijan, Burundi, China, Cuba, Iran, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Russia, Sudan and Venezuela. Four countries voted in favor - Greece, Israel, the United States and Uruguay. Earlier this month the NGO committee voted to accredit the British-based Palestinian Return Centre (PRC). After that vote, Israel accused the PRC of having ties to the Palestinian militant group Hamas. The PRC rejected the allegation and threatened legal action against Israel.[ID:nL1N0YP023] Conservative developing nations on the NGO committee worked to block accreditation of an international gay-lesbian NGO several years ago. That decision was later overturned.