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Responsibility of the Members States, NGOs and the UN Secretariat
Notes on Meeting on 9 November 1999, Palais Des Nations, Conference Room XXIV
CONGO
Novemer 9, 1999The meeting was attended by representatives of 37 NGOs and 24 Permanent Missions. Five UN Secretariat staff were also present.
Danielle Bridel, first Vice-CONGO President, chaired the meeting. She welcomed all, giving background information on the purpose of the consultation. She mentioned that similar meetings took place in New York on 1 October 1999 and 3 November 1999. She referred to the Secretary-General's Report of 10 July 1998 on "Arrangements and Practices for the Interaction of NGOs in All Activities of the UN" (A/53/170). Since this document was prepared without NGO input, CONGO addressed its "comments" to the Secretary-Generalon 7 June 1999. A new report (A/54/329) dated September 1999, which is just a simple compilation of government and NGO statements, has now been issued by the Secretary-General. Ms Bridel then introduced the speakers and thanked them for accepting the invitation to attend.
Anne Anderson, Ambassador of Irel and Chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights:
• Indicated that she was not speaking on behalf of governments, but rather in her personal capacity and from her experience as Permanent Representative of Ireland to the UN as well as to the WTO, during the last 4 years.
• Referred to document A/53/170 as a useful text.
• Said that she had admiration for the NGOs, which she respected for their courage, independence, and expertise. The work carried out by NGOs, particularly humanitarian NGOs, was irreplaceable although at times there had been a degree of "overcrowding" (i.e. Kosovo)and a better co-ordination would have avoided redundancies.
• Identified four areas which need to be properly addressed if an open dialogue with NGOs is to be maintained, i.e.:1. Growth in number of NGOs. Since 1945 there had been over a 40-fold increase. The concern is about how to 'absorb' them. This affected their capacity for an effective participation in international for a. at the Commission on Human Rights, for example, the very long list of NGOs peakers created frustration. at times NGOs ended up speaking to an empty room.
2. Bring about change in a constructive dialogue. Change can be positive but it is a joint responsibility.
3. Self-regulation on the part of NGOs should be considered. A small number of NGOs did not have responsible behaviour (such as carelessness in granting accreditation to insufficiently vetted persons). Also some NGOs misused the time at their disposal, others were careless and repeated what had already been said. Repetition was counter productive and irritates.
4. Encourage more the regional spread.
• Ambassador Anderson expressed her thanks for being invited to participate in such an important meeting.
Raymonde Martineau, NGO Liaison Officer, Geneva, pointed out that:
• The League of Nations (forerunner of the UN) had no legal provision for participation by people's organisations.
• 40 NGOs were present in San Francisco in 1945. Art. 71 - which states the desire for people's participation to help solve economic, humanitarian and social issues - had been described as one of the most promising innovations of the UN Charter. However, there was a gap between the promise as stated and its fulfilment.
• A limitation was also noticeable with regard to the consultative status, because this was granted only to ECOSOC, not the General Assembly, or the Security Council. The first ECOSOC Resolution in this respect was in fact adopted in 1950. It was revised in 1968(Res. 1968/1296) and recently in 1996 (Res. 1996/31).
• Many changes had occurred since 1945 as shown in the Reports of the Secretary-General to the 53rd and 54th sessions of General Assembly (documents A/53/170 and A/54/329),respectively.
• As the number of governments increased (188 in 1999) so did the number of NGOs. However, there had not been an adequate increase in human and financial resources. For example, there were only two persons liaising with NGOs in the Office of the Director-General of UN at Geneva.
• The cohabitation of Governments and NGOs for more than 50 years had not been without tensions. However, there had been progress in this respect. NGOs were more and more conscious that they operated within a governmental framework. In order to continue the positive aspects of collaboration, it was necessary for all three parties - Members States, Secretariat, and NGOs - to work in an atmosphere of mutual respect.
• The Secretariat was responsible for the implementation of measures of consultative status, even in case of withdrawal.
• There were three points on Functions of the Secretariat in respect of NGOs as stated in document ST/SGB/209 of 21.12.1984, i.e.:1. Facilitating and ensuring consistency in the participation of NGOs in the deliberations and decision-making process of the legislative bodies of the UN.
2. Utilizing the expertise, services and capacities available in NGOs in the implementation of approved projects and policies where that would make the policy, project or activity more effective.
3. Providing information on objectives/purposes of the UN and its activities for dissemination by NGOs.
• The specialized agencies of the UN System also had staff responsible for relations with NGOs.
• In Geneva there are on-going meetings of the Working Group on Relations with NGOs to which officers of all the UN Systems having relations with NGOs are invited. Some NGO representatives are included as well as representatives of the Host Country.
• Ms Martineau thanked CONGO for organizing such a meeting, which was relevant to a better understanding of the UN System, its programmes and purposes.Robert Harris, Education International, and past CONGO President, pointed out that:
• This meeting was part of an on-going dialogue, which CONGO wished to pursue. NGOs were such a diverse group and have been around for a very long time. They pre-dated the UN. Much of the lobbying for Art. 71 of the Charter was in fact led by the labour movement. It was the trade unions that originated the term " NGO ".
• In 1999 the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to yet another NGO i.e. Medecins sans frontieres. Other NGOs were awarded the prize in previous years, i.e. The International Campaign to Ban Land Mines (1997), the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (1985),Amnesty International (1977), the Permanent International Peace Bureau (1910), so were individuals involved in NGO and UN work, such as Sean MacBride (1974) and Philip Noel-Baker (1959), to name a few.
• The fact that even though NGOs may have northern-based headquarters close to UN centres for obvious reasons, their actual constituency is in fact global.
• During the course of world summits of the 90's, the work of NGOs gained visibility. Governments became aware of NGO complexity and of the impact they had (and have) on issues that are on the international agenda. as an example he referred in particular to the work done in the area of education and to the impact women's organizations had on the Beijing Conference in 1995.
• NGOs, as part of a larger entity, i.e. "the civil society", were usually non-profit organizations, were seen as part of broader democracy, and considered as a force for the good of humanity.
• Effects of globalization and the impact that the business world had on it.
• A constructive consultative status was a two-way process, with information sharing going in both directions.
• The resolutions adopted by the CONGO General Assembly usually focused on UN/ngo Partnership.
• There was some loss of NGO independence vis a vis governments, business organizations.
• There was the need to find ways to reassert international solidarity.
• Concluded by making reference to the importance of the ethical dimension in human affairs and referred to the declaration "Achieving Our Vision for the 21st Century "adopted on 15 October 1999 at the Seoul International Conference of NGOs where the issue of mutual responsibility was very well underlined.Ms Maria-Francesca Ize-Charrin, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights:
• Drew attention to the Information Note for NGOs participating in the 56th session of the CHR (2000) and 1st session of the PrepCom for the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (2001).
Representatives of Permanent Missions. The representatives of Bangladesh, Cuba, France, Sudan, Tunisia, and United Kingdom, expressed their opinions. They generally agreed with Ambassador Anderson's views. One of the representatives declared that mistrust and non-co-operation between NGOs and Members States was a reality. All were in favour of dialogue.NGO Representatives
Tony Hill, Non-governmental Liaison Service (NGLS):
• Noted that the Commission on Human Rights was exceptional in drawing such large numbers of NGOs. Increasing number of NGOs was not at all an issue. Many UN bodies, in fact, have very limited NGO participation. Statistics therefore should be taken with caution.
• Effectiveness was the real challenge.
• There had been tremendous progress in developing a constructive partnership, notably by the NGO Steering Committee on Sustainable Development.
• We needed to look around since there were a number of opportunities in the intergovernmental bodies.
• CONGO should facilitate an ongoing dialogue.Marek Hagmajer, World Veteran Federation, and former CONGO President:
• The basic problems were those of confidence and credibility.
• Consultative status has been granted to new kinds of NGOs, i.e. GO NGOs and BI NGOs, but also to one-person organization.
• The problem of granting consultative status as a political trade-off had been particularly strong in the (Cold War) past.
• International NGOs should not be considered
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