CPD58 Written statements
Commission on Population and Development forty-eighth session
13 to 17 April 2015, New York
The deadline for submission of written statements is now closed.
Written statements
Information for NGOs submitting written statements for the 48th Session of the Commission on Population and Development
Only NGOs in General and Special Consultative Status with ECOSOC can submit written statements to the 48th Session of the Commission on Population and Development to be held from 13 to 17 April 2015 at UN Headquarters in New York.
The priority theme of the Session is: " Realizing the future we want: integrating population issues into sustainable development, including in the post-2015 development agenda.â€
Instructions for submitting written statements:
Written statements by eligible NGOs, to be circulated as official documents for consideration by the Commission at its forty-eighth session, can be submitted from 12 November 2014 to 12 December 2014
- Statements should adhere to the topic of the priority theme of the Session;
- Statements must be submitted in English or French;
- Statements submitted by an organization in general consultative status should not exceed 2,000 words (including footnotes);
- Statements submitted by an organization in special consultative status should not exceed 1,500 words (including footnotes);
- Deadline for submission: 12 December 2014;
- The UN Secretariat will confirm receipt of statements received;
- The first twenty statements received by 12 December 2014 will be processed by the UN Secretariat and published as formal documents that will be posted on the Session’s webpage;
- Incomprehensible and repetitive text will be edited or deleted;
- Information on processed documents will appear in the UN Daily Journal in the days prior to the opening of the Session.
Suggested guidelines for preparing statements:
- Use generic fonts and formatting;
- New paragraphs should begin after a double line break; paragraphs should not be numbered;
- Proof read and spell check;
- Avoid abbreviations and acronyms, as well as footnotes;
- Be accurate in your facts and figures;
- ;
- Avoid quotations and acronyms: The rules are very restrictive. For the permissible acronyms (first time - you will need to use the full title), please see
All others, including the acronym for the Commission on Population and Development ("CPD") and for your organization are not allowed in written statements. - Do not be critical of a UN Member State or Government leader/s;
- Do not make critical generalizations of a group or persons/countries/organizations;
- Chose brevity for greater advocacy impact;
- Highlight a key idea at the beginning of a paragraph;
- Avoid repeating information and ideas;
- Strive for clarity and coherence;
- Avoid jargon;
- Avoid repetition of information
- Organize material using the principle of one thought per paragraph; make reading effortless
- Verify references to titles and dates of United Nations events and conferences.
- Title of the statement and name of NGO submitting (Acronym in parentheses)
- Introduction, objective and purpose of statement;
- Overview of the issue as it relates to the work of the NGO;
- A way forward: expectations, specific recommendations;
- Closing sentence.
- Format
- Substance
- Structure
Suggested guidelines for preparing statements:
Modalities for written statements as described in paragraphs 36 and 37 of ECOSOC Resolution 1996/31
The following conditions shall be observed regarding the submission and circulation of such written statements:
(a) The written statement shall be submitted in English or French;
(b) The written statement shall be submitted in sufficient time for appropriate consultation, if necessary, to take place between the Secretary-General and the organization before circulation;
(c) Only the first 20 statements will be translated into the other official UN language;
(d) A written statement submitted by an organization in general consultative status will be circulated in full if it does not exceed 2,000 words (including footnotes). Where a statement is in excess of 2,000 words (including footnotes), the organization shall submit a summary, which will be circulated, or shall supply sufficient copies of the full text in the working languages for distribution. A statement will also be circulated in full, however, upon the specific request of the commission or other subsidiary organs;
(e) A written statement submitted by an organization in special consultative status will be circulated in full if it does not exceed 1,500 words (including footnotes). Where a statement is in excess of 1,500 words (including footnotes), the organization shall submit a summary, which will be circulated, or shall supply sufficient copies of the full text in the working languages for distribution. A statement will also be circulated in full, however, upon the specific request of the Commission or other subsidiary organs;
(f) Joint submissions of more than one NGO are encouraged; all co-signers must agree to the statement;
(g) If the statement is supported by another NGO(s) in consultative status with the Council, a note to that effect should be added at the end of the document. The names of the NGOs should be in alphabetical order.
Steps for submitting a written statement:
- Prepare your statement in Microsoft Word or a similar application for text processing and save it on your PC. If you don't save it in advance, you might lose it later during submission, e.g. if your PC loses the connection to the online system. Once you have finalized your statement, copy-paste the final text from your document onto the statement submission page. Please note the online system removes formatting.
- Select the language of your submission.
- If this is a joint statement, please type the name of other NGO submitter(s) into the field "Search and add organization" and click "Search". The system will return a list of NGOs (in case you cannot find the NGO that you are looking for, try again to search for just a part of the NGO name). Click "Add" next to the NGO name that you want to designate as a joint submitter. Repeat this step to add more organizations.
- Click "Add" to submit your statement. From this point on, you will not be able to make changes to the statement. You will receive an email confirmation (This is not an automatic confirmation and may take up to a few days to be sent).
- If you have questions concerning the submission of written statements to the Commission, please contact CPD48NGO@un.org.