AS DELIVERED
The United States is a strong supporter of civil society’s participation in the United Nations system. The United States pushes to grant consultative status to all civil society non-governmental organizations, except in cases where NGOs’ activities and/or sources of funding are linked to terrorism or terrorist financing and/or related criminal activity.
AlKarama Foundation lists on its website Abdul Rahman bin Omair al-Nuaimi as one of its founding members, and this individual is designated on the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons list for terrorist ties. For this reason, we joined consensus on the resolution.
We are strongly supportive of making sure that civil society is an integral part of our work at the United Nations and regret having to not support the accreditation of any NGO. This position, however, should not be used as a justification by others to obstruct the work of legitimate human rights defenders in their country, and we remain committed to working with the NGO Committee to support robust civil society engagement in the United Nations system.
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