Consultative status

About Lawyers for Lawyers’ special consultative UN status

Lawyers for Lawyers has been granted the special consultative status by the UN Economic and Social Council, also known as the ECOSOC status. The status gives us the right to participate in meetings of the Council, its functional commissions and other subsidiary bodies. We can also engage in the Human Rights Council’s (HRC) sessions. This enables us to effectively address human rights compliance issues and violations of the Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers.

Read more about the Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers

What does the consultative status embody?

The UN Economic and Social Council gives the ECOSOC status to NGOs that are able to make a valuable contribution to the council. Thanks to the ECOSOC status, we have the right to:

• enter United Nations premises;
• attend meetings, international conferences and events;
• submit oral and written statements during these sessions;
• organize so-called side events in UN buildings, which we use to address specific human rights issues with member state representatives and more.

How do we utilize our ECOSOC status?

Thanks to the ECOSOC or special consultative status, we have the right to engage in HRC meetings and more. This helps us in our mission to stand up for  lawyers who are threatened and hindered in their work. The status helps us to lobby with relevant bodies for the right conditions for lawyers to be able to perform their job independently. It also gives us the possibility to directly contact heads of state and other government officials from member states that don’t fully comply with the Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers – as well as from other member states that monitor human rights violations.