Morocco’s Driss Guerraoui has been unanimously elected Vice-President of the International Council on Social Welfare (ICSW), one of the first international non-governmental organizations to obtain Special Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
Guerraoui was elected by the ICSW General Assembly, held end of June in Nairobi, for a four-year term. He becomes the first African and Arab to hold this position within the International Council on Social Welfare since its establishment in 1928.
Headquartered in Utrecht, the Netherlands, the ICSW brings together national and international organizations dedicated to advancing social welfare, social justice, and social development worldwide. Its core mission is to promote forms of social and economic development aimed at reducing poverty, hardship, and vulnerability across the globe.
The Council advocates for the recognition and protection of the fundamental human rights to food, education, healthcare, housing, and social protection.
According to the ICSW, these rights constitute an essential pillar for the effective realization of individual and collective freedoms, as well as justice and peace worldwide. The Council also works to advance the principles of equal opportunity, freedom of expression, and universal access to basic social services and social protection.
Morocco joined the ICSW Board of Directors in June 2010 after being unanimously elected by the organization’s General Assembly held in Hong Kong.
It is worth noting that Russian-born American Sergei Zelenev serves as President of the ICSW, while the position of Executive Director is held by Spain’s Antonio Lopez Pelaez.
