Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, who today is addressing ECOSOC, which will ultimately need to ratify the accreditation, was also
asked to speak out.
According to a UN
timetable, the world body’s 19-member Committee on NGOs — which is is
stacked with non-democracies including Iran, Sudan, China, Cuba, Mauritania, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Russia, Sudan, and Venezuela — is scheduled to decide on the application of the Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) to receive official UN accreditation as a non-governmental observer organization.
Iran, the main backer of Hamas, along with Sudan, also a Hamas ally, have
spoken out in support of the group, most recently during a February
meeting of the UN committee.
NGO status would allow representatives of the Hamas-linked PRC to acquire official UN badges, full access to UN facilities and participation in debates in New York, Geneva, and Vienna, and, perhaps most significantly, global legitimacy.