India joins UN Economic and Social Council for 2022-24 term: All you need to know

India was on Tuesday elected to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), one of the six main organs of the United Nations, for the 2022-24 term. Indian Ambassador to United Nations TS Tirumurti thanked all UN member states for their 'vote of confidence in India' shortly after the country made it to the council.

"I thank all Member States of the @UN for their vote of confidence in India for #ECOSOC," Tirumurti tweeted. India was elected in the Asia-Pacific States category alongside Afghanistan, Kazakhstan and Oman in the elections held on Monday.

The results were announced by President of the General Assembly Volkan Bozkir after voting by secret ballot in the assembly.

Here is all you need to know:

• At the heart of the United Nations system, the 54-member ECOSOC advances the three dimensions of sustainable development - economic, social and environmental.
• The council is a central platform for fostering debate and innovative thinking, forging consensus on ways forward, and coordinating efforts to achieve internationally agreed goals.
• Responsible for following-up to major UN conferences and summits, the 54 members of the council are elected each year by the General Assembly for overlapping three-year terms.
• Among the African states, Côte d'Ivoire, Eswatini, Mauritius, Tunisia and the United Republic of Tanzania were elected.
• From the eastern European states, Croatia and the Czech Republic and from the Latin American and Caribbean states, Belize, Chile and Peru were elected.
• In the Economic and Social Council by-election, Greece, New Zealand and Denmark were elected for a term of office from January to December 2022 and Israel was elected for a term of office beginning January 1, 2022 and until December 31, 2023.
• India is currently serving the 2021-22 term as a non-permanent member of the powerful UN Security Council and will assume the Presidency of the 15-nation UN organ in August.
• The UN Charter established ECOSOC in 1945 as one of the six main organs of the United Nations.
• Seats on the Council are allotted based on geographical representation with 14 allocated to African states, 11 to Asian states, six to eastern European states, 10 to Latin American and Caribbean states and 13 to western European and other states, according to the ECOSOC website.

(With inputs from PTI)