The ZAKA emergency service, which specializes in identifying victims of disasters, has been accepted by the United Nations as a consulting non-governmental organization. The designation means ZAKA has the right to participate in official deliberations of all UN institutions as an advisory body and influence the dialogue in different UN committees.
Three years after it applied, ZAKA's consensus acceptance was made possible by an Israeli diplomatic effort, helped by United States Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power. It is particularly significant in that Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, Sudan, Pakistan and other countries which are hostile to Israel sit on the NGO committee