Global Policy Forum

Background

A debate is raging within the United Nations about the 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 seven 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 effectiveness of the Council is widespread. And although some procedural reforms have taken place, there is a growing sense that the Council as set up fifty years ago is unsuited to present-day realities -- that it is an ingrown, hidebound creature of a few great powers.

What is the NGO Stake in the Council?

NGOs increasingly recognize that they have a large stake in the work of the Security Council. The Council's work directly affects the core programs of a large number of NGOs. NGOs have important expertise and experience that relates to the Council and its work (most obviously, the human rights and humanitarian organizations that are directly in the field during complex emergencies). And both the UN and member states are increasingly turning to NGOs as partners and service contractors, in emergency and post-emergency situations under the Council's authority. So NGOs can no longer ignore the Council or accept that it is the private preserve of the member states. They want to actively engage with it, to improve its capacity to preserve international peace and security.

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 ambassadors, 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 founding group, convened by Global Policy Forum, included 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 dozens of public meetings and private briefings and it has met formally and informally with many delegations (including a majority of the members of the Council), UN officials, NGO leaders and the press. A high level Consultation Group, composed of thirty NGO leaders, now meets every two weeks for private briefings on the Council and discussions with Permanent Representatives.

Constituency, Purposes and Goals of the Working Group

The NGO Working Group constantly seeks to broaden its contacts and expand its outreach. It welcomes all NGOs as members or participants and is especially concerned to include NGOs from the South. 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, representatives from more than one hundred NGOs of many countries have participated--including NGOs in the fields of human rights, humanitarian relief, women's rights, disarmament, global governanance, spirituality, environment, youth, and development.

The main purposes of the Working Group are: