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IN THE CORRIDORS

Several NGOs have complained that they were not given the floor in Plenary, although they were on the speakers' list. Only when they remonstrated with the Secretariat were they given a slot at the end of the day. The Secretariat says it could not find the NGOs. NGOs argue they were there. There also appears to be new criteria for speeches in Plenary -- they should be to the point. The UN has never enforced such a rule with vigor before, but on Wednesday the Secretariat removed one speaker from the list as the speech was deemed "political" and not to the issues. Broadly applied, this rule could shorten ECOSOC by one week this July.