GLOSSARY

Article 71
Article 71 is the provision in the UN Charter which authorizes the consultative relationship of NGOs with ECOSOC.

Consultative Status
A specific type of affiliation with ECOSOC through with an NGO works in cooperation with the Council and its subsidiary bodies by submitting reports and making recommendations, and interventions in the area of its expertise.

Convention
An international treaty that when ratified or acceded to by a country, the binding force of international law. The national laws of a country are to be brought into conformity with the provisions.

Declaration
A statement of principals codifying an international standard for a specific issue. For example, "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights" (1948) and the "Deceleration on the Elimination of all Forms of Religious Intolerance and Discrimination based on Religion or Belief" (1981). Many evolve into conventions.

Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
The 54 Member States coordinate the economic and social work of the UN’s programs, commissions, and specialized agencies.

European Union (EU)
The EU is a union of fifteen European states. Its main objective is to promote mutual economic and social progress which is balanced and sustainable, to assert a European identity on the international scene. The EU describes its ultimate goal as promoting "an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe, in which decisions are taken as closely as possible to the citizen". The EU describes its objectives as:
    1) promoting economic and social progress which is balanced and sustainable
    2) asserting the European identity on the international scene
    3) introducing a European citizenship for the nationals of the Member States
For more information visit the EU website: http://europa.eu.int/.

General Assembly (GA)
The General Assembly is the main deliberative body of the UN consisting of each Member State. It adopts resolutions proposed by Member States but has no enforcement power except that of public opinion. It receives reports from all bodies of the UN system, calls for international conferences, declares international years and decades, adopts conventions, calls for studies on important issues, approves the UN budget, and serves as the world’s only truly global forum.

Group of 7 (G7)
The G7 is comprised of the 7 major economic and political powers: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Often, when Russia is included, the group is known as the G8, or the G7 + 1.

Group of 77 (G77)
Unlike the G7, the G77 is made up of 77 of the developing countries. Since it's organization in 1964, the G77 has grown to include more than 125 members..

Holy See
The official title of the Vatican in its capacity of Observer State at the United Nations. This entitles the Permanent Representative of the Holy See to make interventions at the United Nations without the right to vote. It was established as a Permanent Observer Mission in 1964.

International Catholic Organization (ICO)
A number of Catholic Lay organizations have been designated the status of being an ICO by the Pontifical Council for the Laity and the Holy See.

International Court of Justice (ICJ) (World Court)
15 justices on the Court issue judgements on all questions that states refer to it on all matters provided for in the UN Charter or in treaties and conventions in force. The General Assembly, Security Council, and all UN bodies can ask for advisory opinions on any legal question. The Court’s judgements are not binding and in too many cases one party to a dispute refuses to follow the Court’s decision.

International Labor Organization (ILO)
In 1946 the ILO became a specialized agency of the United Nations. It seeks to promote improved working and living conditions by establishing standards that reduce social injustices in areas such as employment, pay, health, and working conditions. For more information visit the ILO website: www.ilo.org.

International Monetary Fund (IMF)
One of three Bretton Woods organizations, the IMF was established in 1945 to promote international monetary harmony. The IMF monitors exchange rates and monetary policies of it's member states and provides credit for members who experience temporary balance of payments defects. For more information visit the IMF website: www.imf.org.

Least Developed Countries (LDCs)
LDC status is a classification of the United Nations to identify the poorest of the developing countries. Criteria include low levels of per-capita income, literacy, and manufacturing share of the country's total gross domestic product.

Multi-National Corporations (MNCs)
See Transnational Corporations (TNCs)

National Catholic Welfare Conference (NCWC)
Former name for the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops (NCCB).

Non Governmental Organization (NGO)
A Non Governmental Organization is a Non-profit citizen’s voluntary organization. A number of NGOs have consultative status with the Economic and Social Council or have a relationship with the Department of Public Information (DPI) at the United Nations.

Secretariat
Headed by the Secretary-General and comprised of over 13,500 staff from all around the world, the members of the Secretariat work as international civil servants in administering policies and programs of the UN organs.

Security Council (SC)
The Security Council is comprised of 15 member states Five of the fifteen, China, France, Great Britain, Russia, and The United States of America are permanent. The other ten rotate to other Member States. It has the primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security. It discusses threats to international peace and security, investigates disputes, establishes peacekeeping operations and passes resolutions detailing procedures to end conflicts.

Social Development
Within the UN system social development covers four main areas that relate to the 1995 United Nations Copenhagen Social Summit:
    1) poverty eradication and employment
    2) intergovernmental support service and implementation
    3) socio-economic policy and development management
    4) social integration
For more information visit: www.un.org/esa/socdev/.

Sustainable Development
Sustainable Development deals with issues relating to the environment, for example: energy, pollution, global warming, and water. For more information visit the World Watch website: www.worldwatch.org.

Trusteeship Council (TC)
Varying numbers of members supervised the administration of a number of trust territories to self-government or independence.

Transnational Corporation (TNC)
A Transnational Corporation or a Multi-National Corporation is a company that operates in more than one country. Often TNCs are based in one country and operate through affiliates overseas.

Transparency
The extent to which laws, regulations, agreements and practices are open, clear, and verifiable.

United Nations (UN)
Created at the close of World War II with 51 founding Member States, the UN has the following main purposes: to maintain international peace and security, to develop friendly relations among nations based on equal rights and self-determination, to promote respect for human rights, to cooperate to solve economic, social, cultural, and humanitarian problems, and to be the center for harmonizing the action of nations in the arraignment of these common ends. The UN consists of main organs, programs, numerous commissions, special bodies, and specialized agencies. For more information visit: www.un.org.

United Nations Development Program (UNDP)
The UNDP acts as a development fund of the UN that finances the world's largest multilateral program of grant technical cooperation which includes expert advice, training and equipment, to developing countries. For more information visit the UNDP website: www.undp.org.

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
UNCTAD is a permanent organ of the UNGA established in 1964. It promotes international trade and seeks to increase trade between developing countries and countries with different social and economic systems. UNCTAD also examines problems of economic development within the context of principals and policies of international trade and seeks to harmonize trade, development, and regional economic policies. For more information, visit the UNCTAD website at www.unctad.org.

United States Catholic Conference (USCC) / National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB)
The NCCB is the body of Catholic Bishops in the United States. In and through this body the Bishops exercise their pastorate over the Church in the United States. The USCC is a civil cooperation and operational secretariat through witch the Bishops, in cooperation with other members of the Church, act on a wider-than-ecclesiastical scale for the good of the Church and society in the United States. Recently the USCC and NCCB have merged to form one organization.

World Bank
The World Bank is an integrated group of international institutions that provide financial and technechnial assistance to developing countries. The main objective of the bank has been to assist in the development of member countries by providing loans to help finance investment projects. The bank finances its activities by members' contributions and by borrowing in the world capital markets and selling portions of its loans.For more information visit the World Bank website: www.worldbank.org.

World Health Organization (WHO)
The WHO was created to deal with a wide range of health issues. It promotes technical co-operation, provides assistance to governments, upon request, in strengthening health services, and acts as the directing and coordinating authority on international health work. For more information, visit the WHO website: www.who.org.

World Trade Organization (WTO)
Established in 1995, the WTO is a global commerce agency which transformed the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade into an enforceable global commerce commercial code. Presently it is charged with enforcing three sets of global trade rules:
    a) General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)
    b) Trade Related Intellectual Property Measures (TRIPS)
    c) General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)
For more information, visit the WTO website: www.wto.org.