Peace & Security
Global Policy Forum follows closely the work of the Security Council, the UN's most active and powerful body. As in past years, GPF worked to inform the public about the Council's work and especially about the economic interests and geo-strategy that often lie hidden beneath the surface of mainstream discourse. In 2008, we organized 43 policy meetings for key NGO representatives - usually with a Security Council ambassador or a high UN official. We followed certain conflicts especially closely, particularly Iraq, Afghanistan, Haiti, Israel/Palestine, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. We worked on thematic issues, including Council reform, peacekeeping, the arms trade, and private military companies. We continued to be especially interested in the link between natural resources and conflict - how diamonds, timber, gold, oil and other resources fuel wars, implicating multinational companies and rich nations along with the better-known scoundrels, such as rebels, warlords and dictators. We also stepped up our interest in the impact of climate change on security.
Iraq
GPF continued to work actively on Iraq, because the conflict remains so central to global politics, international law, and competition for natural resources. GPF maintained its world class website on Iraq, where we analyze the conflict and politics resulting from the six years of occupation. During the year, the number of occupation forces remained static at 120,000 and a large number of special operations forces, intelligence operatives and foreign military contractor personnel remained in the country.
Social & Economic Policy
During 2009, our social and economic policy work continued to focus on the multi-faceted global crisis, as food and resources run short and population continues to grow rapidly. We especially worked on the world economic crisis and the food & hunger crisis. Our newly-founded NGO Working Group on Food & Hunger was very active, bringing together a number of NGO partners in New York and beyond for information-sharing, public education and joint advocacy. With more than a billion hungry people on the planet and rising world hunger, the need for action is urgent. We organized twenty WG meetings and advocacy events, as well as four public meetings on food issues for the UN community. We urged attention to the unsustainable system of industrial agriculture and the alternative options available. One event considered the impact of climate change on agriculture and agriculture's significant impact on climate change. During the year, we greatly enlarged our network of connections to NGOs, scientists and UN officials, including Prof. Olivier De Schutter, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food. Our work on the world economic crisis focused on the UN conference on this topic in June and the conference follow-up in ECOSOC and the General Assembly. We analyzed the policy implications of the financial melt-down and the potential for regulatory reform in the financial sector. We also looked at the destabilizing effect of offshore financial centers and the broad issue of tax evasion and the consequent de-funding of governments and public activities. The return to a "growth" model, with little overall policy innovation, will have very serious negative effects on climate change and global sustainability.
UN Reform
GPF continued to provide analysis and information about UN reform, emphasizing that the world body is constrained by the outlook and interests of its most powerful member states. Reform cannot by itself solve global problems, but it sometimes can help. GPF's UN Reform site is one of the most comprehensive on the internet, covering reform of the UN organs, and the role of new actors, such as NGOs and business. UN Reform tends to be faddish, as enthusiasms rise and fall, without much fundamental thought about the institution and where reform proposals may be headed. GPF tries to look beneath the surface and understand how national interests drive the different reform proposals. During 2009, GPF took up specific reform issues, including the reform of the UN Security Council, the reform of peacekeeping, and the reform of UN management and finance.
United Nations Finance
The UN must have adequate financing if it is to fulfil its mission, yet its budget is comparatively small and its finances poorly-understood. Nations wrangle over every detail of the UN's budget while they do little to build cooperative financial solutions. GPF's program on UN finance seeks better funding and a more constructive approach to the budget process. In 2009, we continued to develop our world class series of tables and charts on UN finance, under the overall direction of GPF Senior Research Fellow Klaus Huefner. In February, in partnership with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, we held a major conference on UN finance, attended by sixty participants from 30 countries.We also continued to advocate for alternative sources of funds for the UN, offering significant new funding that could provide the organization with the resources it needs.
NGOs & Global Governance
We continued our active research and advocacy on the worldwide NGO movement, pushing in particular for greater NGO access at the UN. NGOs contribute much to the United Nations through their information, ideas, advocacy and attentive monitoring. While the UN is more open to NGOs than it used to be, it still remains far too closed and restrictive. NGOs should not be idealized, though, and there are many questions to be asked, especially about fake NGOs formed by governments and by businesses. Even large and respected NGOs are subject to multiple pressures for political conformity and integration into the military-security system. In 2009, we continued to work in partnership with others and we took a major role in a new NGO Working Group on NGO Access at the UN.
Nations & States
During the year, GPF continued its analysis of the role of "Nations & States" in a globalized world. We looked at how the global economy - through export processing zones, dollarization, tax havens and transnational corporations - has transformed state sovereignty and undermined state financing. We also provided information on political integration, "failed states," emerging states and claims by groups to autonomy and national independence. The world economic crisis showed the continued importance of states, as economic managers and creditors of last resort, but the crisis also imperilled states and put many of them at risk of financial ruin.
International Justice
In 2009, we provided analysis and information on many key aspects of international justice. We covered the proceedings of the International Criminal Court and the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and Yugoslavia. Further, we looked at the application of universal jurisdiction and the Alien Torts Claim Act, and we made available information on the discussion about "peace versus justice."
Media
In 2009, we gave 80 interviews to media outlets all over the world, including radio, television, newspapers, magazines and websites. Among the many media were the Washington Post, InterPress Service, France24, Associated Press, EFE, Al-Jazeera, Voice of America, National Public Radio (US), Die Zeit, C-Span, RT Television, Bloomberg News, Media Globale and El Commercio. The topics of the interviews included the UN Security Council, energy and oil, the global food crisis, Iraq and UN reform. This heavy demand from media outlets enabled GPF to reach many millions of people with our information and analysis.
Website/Newsletter/Blog/Twitter
GPF hosts one of the world's largest NGO sites on the UN and global policy. During 2009, we completely re-constructed the site and migrated it to a new and updated electronic platform. This required a large commitment of staff time and resources, but it resulted in much greater capacity, flexibility and ease of navigation. The site continued to attract a very large number of visitors - about five million for the year as a whole. Our electronic newsletter continued to grow significantly and it now reaches subscribers in more than 130 countries. During the spring we launched a new blog and in the fall we began to use Twitter to announce all our new web postings.
Conferences, Lectures and Meeting Participation
In addition to 43 meetings of the NGO Working Group on the Security Council, and 23 meetings of the NGO Working Group on Food & Hunger, GPF organized twelve public events during the year. In February, we organized an international conference on the financing of the United Nations jointly with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. Representatives from the UN, NGOs, diplomatic delegations and academic institutions spoke about the financial problems and how to move towards a more effective system of financing and oversight. Our other meetings included four on food & hunger subjects, two on Iraq, one on Gaza, and two presentations by authors of new books. In February, we welcomed our old friend, Daniele Archibugi, who discussed his new book, The Global Commonwealth of Citizens. In December, we held a luncheon meeting featuring a presentation by John Christensen, Director of the London-based Tax Justice Network.
Internships and Volunteers
In 2009, we hosted three teams of interns in our New York office - a total of twenty-one persons from fourteen different countries. We gave them training in UN diplomacy, website management, writing, research and international policymaking. We wrote numerous recommendation letters and gave career support to current and former interns. We organized many special luncheons, putting the interns in touch with members of the UN community - NGOs, diplomats, Secretariat officials and other UN staff. In addition, several interns supported the work of GPF-Europe in Bonn.
Senior Volunteers/Senior Fellows/Advisors
Barbara Adams - former chief of Strategic Partnerships at UNIFEM - held the post of Senior Fellow in New York, where she monitored the financing for development process and the UN response to the world economic crisis. Klaus Huefner worked as GPF Senior Research Fellow from Berlin, with a special focus on UN finance. Céline Nahory actively engaged with GPF on a variety of issues as Senior Advisor - first from Tokyo and later from Mumbai. Katarina Wahlberg acted as Advisor on Social and Economic Policy from Stockholm.
Budget & Fundraising
In 2009, GPF's headquarters budget was $288,000. About half of this sum came from donations from individuals. The remainder came from foundations, partner organizations, fees and other sources. GPF Europe had a budget in 2009 of €140,000. Most of its funding comes from partner organizations and foundations, with the balance from individual members. With a consolidated budget total of about $500,000, GPF accomplished a tremendous amount. We thank all the donors and friends whose support makes this work possible.
