Global Policy Forum

Background

A debate is raging within the United Nations about the future role of the Security Council. In a world torn by conflict and human suffering, people need a more effective institution of collective security--to keep peace, promote disarmament and lay the basis for a secure and just existence for the world's citizens. But sharp differences over the Council arise among UN member states. They disagree on who should be a Council member and on what basis, how the Council should function, to whom it should be accountable, who should pay the bills, how reliant it should be on military force and how it must be reformed to meet the needs of an increasingly interdependent world.

Over the past six years, the debate has gathered force as the Council has dramatically increased its activity. Once veto- bound and almost moribund, the Council is now in virtually daily session. It has dispatched military operations, imposed economic sanctions, mandated arms inspections, and taken many other measures. But doubt about the fairness and effec-tiveness of the Council is widespread and there is a growing sense that the Council as set up fifty years ago is unsuited to present-day realities. Nearly every government now agrees that Council reform is urgently necessary--though perspectives vary widely.

A General Assembly Working Group, set up in December 1993, has been addressing Council reform--but behind closed doors, without NGO input, and in a manner seriously com-promising transparency and public accountability. Not surprisingly, the reform proposals being considered are completely silent on the potential role of NGOs in the Council's work, nor do they address the emerging reality of international civil society, global public opinion, and global citizenship.

NGO Initiatives

On May 23, 1994, NGOs based in New York and Geneva organized a conference on Council reform. General Assembly President Samuel Insanally spoke, as well as three ambas-sadors, and persons from academia, the media and the NGO community. In late 1994, several NGOs published analytical papers on Council reform. Then, early in 1995, a group of NGOs came together in New York to organize the NGO Working Group on the Security Council. The group, convened by Global Policy Forum, includes Amnesty International, Earth Action, the Lawyers Committee for Nuclear Policy, the World Council of Churches and the World Federalist Movement. The NGO Working Group has now held two public meetings and it has met formally and informally with diplomats, UN officials, NGO leaders and the press.
Constituency, Purposes and Goals of the Working Group

The NGO Working Group seeks to broaden its contacts and expand its activities in 1996. It welcomes all NGOs as members or participants. Since the Security Council has a wide impact, NGOs working in a variety of fields have shown an interest in the Working Group. To date, more than seventy representatives from NGOs of many countries have par-ticipated--including NGOs in the fields of human rights, humanitarian relief, women's rights, disarmament, global governanance, religious faith, environment, youth, and development.

The main purposes of the Working Group are: