A/HRC/38/18 Migration had a dedicated liaison unit that supported and worked with regional civil society organizations. At the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), several staff members at headquarters focused specifically on various aspects of civil society engagement and manage partnerships. B. Accreditation 18. Accreditation was a common requirement for civil society organizations to gain access to meetings and events of regional and international institutions, especially those of an intergovernmental nature. Most international organizations required civil society organizations to have either consultative status, specialized consultative status or liaison status, which determined the level of engagement accorded to civil society. Invariably, those who did not possess such a status were denied accreditation to participate in meetings and access to meeting venues. Consultative status was usually granted to groups and not to individuals, thus the affiliation of individuals or private persons with an organization that had consultative status was a precondition for their participation. 19. The NGO Branch of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs provided secretariat support to the Economic and Social Council Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations, the intergovernmental body responsible for granting consultative status with the Council to NGOs. That status, in turn, was the basis for gaining access to meetings, such as those of the Human Rights Council, ad hoc processes on small arms, the Economic and Social Council subsidiary bodies, as well as special events organized by the President of the General Assembly. Different rules applied to different submechanisms, where for example, no accreditation was required for engaging with the special procedures of the Human Rights Council. The Department of Public Information had delegated authority from the Economic and Social Council to give accreditation, although it did not confer consultative status. According to the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, over 4,800 organizations had consultative status with the Economic and Social Council, and the demand for that status remained high. For instance, new applications had increased by 26 per cent in 2016 and by 19 per cent in 2017, of which 40 per cent had been from NGOs in developing countries. This pointed to an increase in interest by organizations to contribute to global discussions in intergovernmental forums. 20. Several Member States, 11 regional organizations and civil society organizations highlighted the Economic and Social Council accreditation procedure as a considerable obstacle to the involvement of civil society in United Nations forums. Deferrals that amounted to de facto rejections seemed to target disproportionately civil society that worked on human rights-related issues. In her 2014 report, the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association noted that, out of 48 organizations that had had their accreditations repeatedly deferred, 46 worked on human rights issues, such as children and women’s rights, minorities and country situations (see A/69/365, para. 74). She condemned such practices and insisted that States and the United Nations had a legal obligation to strengthen civil society participation within the United Nations, including by ensuring that people could exercise their rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association in multilateral arenas (ibid. para. 57). It was reported that some decisions had been deferred for up to nine years before eventually being rejected, while some were still awaiting final determination. 12 21. One commentator noted that the practice of the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations reflected the growing restrictions placed on civil society globally, while at the very time restrictions at the national level made access to the United Nations all the 11 12 See, for example, submissions by the Governments of the United States of America, Ireland and Switzerland. For example, World Uyghur Congress, Alkarama (since 2015), Christian Solidarity Worldwide (since 2009), Committee to Protect Journalists (since 2012) and International Dalit Solidarity Network (since 2008). The application of Journalists and Writers Foundation was withdrawn by the Department of Public Information. 7