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NGOs Can Observe, Not Participate - NGOs - Global policy Forum NGOs Can Observe, Not Participate
By Haider Rizvi
Inter Press Service
January 22, 2002
The smell of North-South battle penetrated the air in a conference room Monday packed with delegates and NGO representatives participating in the ongoing discussions on the formulation of the six-point agenda of the upcoming International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD). It all started when Ambassador Shamshad Ahmed Khan, co-chairman of the preparatory committee meetings announced that the NGOs would not be allowed to participate further in any formal or informal sessions on the preparation of final document. Representatives of the NGOs said they wanted to take part in the meetings of steering committees to witness whether the decision-making process was genuinely representative, even if they were allowed to participate as silent observers. But the co-chairman refused to accommodate the NGOs demand, saying that the rules did not allow them to be part of further deliberations on the subjects and that they could continue to contribute to the process "outside this room."
While the European Union chose to be silent on this issue, the Japanese delegate, who was not happy with the new changes made in the draft, told the meeting that his delegation supported the idea of the European Union "to sit down in smaller groups for the deliberations." Sensing the significance of the matter, the Venezuelan delegate representing the 133-member Group of 77 declared that the presence of NGOs and business sector representatives "would not bother us. These times indicate new trends, Mr. Chairman. But we are in your hands."
When towards the conclusion of the meeting, the co-chair-man asked if NGOs should be allowed to participate in further discussion on the draft, the US delegate responded but only to sidestep the question. He rather chose to suggest that instead of wasting time on procedural matters, "let's go ahead with the business at hand." At that point, since no one was ready to object to the NGOs participation, the co-chairman announced that NGOs could participate in the deliberations, but would not be allowed to speak. According to the co-chairman, further formal and informal discussions would be held in "smaller rooms", where NGOs could sit along with other delegates, but many believe it is physically impossible for NGOs to be present since the rooms are much smaller with a capacity to accommodate only 14 to 16 delegations.
Earlier, a representative of the NGOs Caucus, raised serious questions about the changes made in the third draft of the six-point agenda. On the question of mobilizing international resources for development, the draft mentions "special efforts are required in such priority areas as ...international investment agreement." But the NGO representative noted there was "no such agreement" in existence at this time. "New things are being added which are a problem," an NGO representative leader told the meeting while expressing his dissatisfaction with the way some other issues were reflected upon in the draft, especially those related to trade and international financial system. He said the NGOs wanted to stay engaged in the dialogue in a meaningful and serious way because "this conference is about people who are dying every where because they lack financial resources due to unfair international trade and financial system".
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