Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) helped found the United Nations in 1945 and have partnered with the UN ever since. The UN Charter has arrangements for UN consultations with NGOs, as explained in the description of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in Article 71.

The United Nations partners with civil society organisations in order to advance UN ideals and support its work over a wide range of fields.

There are three categories of status for NGOs: General; Special; and Roster.

• General Consultative Status is usually granted to large, long-established, international NGOs, with a broad geographical reach, whose areas of work cover most of the issues on the agenda of ECOSOC.
• Special Consultative Status is generally granted to smaller, more recently established, NGOs that have a special competence in, and are concerned specifically with, a limited number of the fields of activity covered by ECOSOC.
• Roster Status is generally granted to NGOs that do not fit in either of the other categories and which tend to have a narrow and/or technical focus.

Since 2002, OSMTH holds accreditation as a Non-Governmental Organization in Special Consultative Status (Number: 19885) and is listed as the “Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem (OSMTH).”

Since 2014, OSMTH also holds accreditation with the UN Department of Global Communications.

OSMTH has accredited Delegations at the three principal United Nations offices around the world, which are in:

• Geneva
• New York
• Vienna

OSMTH Delegates attend, and participate in, those consultation, meeting, seminar, and presentation sessions held by, or for, Non-Governmental Organisations in Consultative Status with the UN ECOSOC, which focus on topics covered by OSMTH’s international advocacy and policy positions.

OSMTH has acted as a co-sponsor of such sessions on various topics:

• Geneva – 13 March 2009: Intercultural and Interfaith Education: An Imperative for Achieving Freedom of Religion and Mutual Understanding
• Geneva – 28 February 2011: Female Slavery: the status of Women and Girls forced into Slavery in both the Developed and Underdeveloped World
• Geneva – 13 September 2011: Spirituality, Diplomacy and Human Rights
• New York – 26 February 2015: Interfaith Perspectives: Upholding a Universal Agenda for Human Dignity and Sustainable Development
• New York – 25 October 2016: Idealism to Pragmatism - The Culture of Peace and the Sustainable Development Goals, Making It Work