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CONGO Statement to ECOSOC on Case of CSI (July 28, 1999) Statement to ECOSOC on Case of CSI
By Danielle Bridel
Geneva, July 28, 1999
First Vice-President CONGO
Mr. President,
Thank you for giving the floor to the Conference of Nongovernmental Organizations in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations (CONGO) which is an independent organization with about 300 NGOs.
Since its establishment more than 50 years ago, the primary aim of this Conference has been to assure that NGOs in Consultative Status can on all occasions enjoy the fullest opportunities for performing their consultative status. We regret that today we will share with you our great preoccupation in the manner that Resolution 1996/31 of your Council is applied, in particular in matters relating to the establishment of consultative relations or of the withdrawal of these relations.
As we have written to the UN Secretary-General in our commentary on the report regarding relations with NGOs (A/53/170), the proposals made by the Committee on NGOs to your Council seem increasingly based on political considerations.
Thus, in several cases granting consultative relations in recent years and having witnessed their activities, the question can be raised whether certain NGOs really fulfilled all the criteria described in paras 9 to 13 of the Resolution 1996/31, particularly in regard to their aims and above all in regard to their independence relating to their governments.
As for the procedure on withdrawal, its application seems to us to have serious gaps in regard to para 56 of the Resolution which states: "In cases when the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations has decided to recommend that the general or special consultative status of a non-governmental organization or its listing on the Roster be suspended or withdrawn, the non-governmental organization concerned shall be given written reasons for that decision and shall have an opportunity to present its response for appropriate consideration by the Committee as expeditiously as possible." But, we note that the letter received by Christian Solidarity International of 21 June 1999 mentions no reason, only referring to para 57 of the Resolution.
It is true that, as mentioned in the Committee's report (E/1999/109, para 69), the NGO in question had received on 2 June 1999, i.e. before the Committee's session, a copy of the accusatory letter from Sudan of 28 April 1999 asking for a special report, then on 9 June, the NGO was asked to give explanations. But this preliminary procedure cannot in our view replace that of para 56 which gives an NGO the possibility to defend itself after knowing the deliberations and reasons of the Committee as a whole, which is something else indeed.
In addition, the date of the meeting when this decision was taken was changed at the last minute so that the NGO representative concerned was not present to answer questions which might have been asked, which seems contrary to the elementary rules of procedure.
We wish to state that we are grateful to the present Chair of the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations for the application of para 61a of the Resolution, i.e. before each Committee session to meet with organizations in consultative status to discuss questions of interest. Furthermore, the CONGO President will be regularly given the floor and following this custom, she spoke on 16 June 1999 (E/1999/109 para 96) to propose that she would hold very wide consultations during the next six months in order to collect suggestions on how to fight against possible NGO abuses.
We hope that this common effort to find a solution will be carried out without difficulties. While waiting for CONGO to present its suggestions and to have reached an agreement with the Committee on NGOs, no definitive decision should be taken. The NGOs, in particular the defenders of Human Rights - and even should they have committed abuses - must be able to count on the impartial application of Resolution 1996/31 in the spirit of respect for freedom of expression.
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