Enfield & The Barnets United Nations Association

The UN And Civil Society Organisations

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Background

The UN Charter refers to 'we the peoples', not 'we the governments', of the United Nations. The door is thus open for NGO participation in UN debates (though governments decide outcomes), and this has become a recognised practice. Examples of effective NGO intervention are the Land Mines Treaty, the ICC and the Convention on Torture.

There is a sharp contrast between the status of NGOs in UN debates and the lack of such status in parliamentary practice in the UK (though NGOs may have informal influence).

In the 1990s a wider range of NGOs began to regard the UN as an arena for action.

The World Civil Society Forum (WCSF) was inaugurated in Geneva in 2002 (WCSF 1) and in anticipation the WCSF-SG was set up in 2001 by a number of UK bodies including the national UNA. The WCSF-SG was represented at Geneva and now seeks to promote the WCSF in the UK.

WCSF 1 brought together delegates from NGOs and CSOs (civil society organizations: note the changing, more inclusive, terminology) from all over the world. WCSF 2 will take place in 2006, and a preparatory meeting in July next year.

Kofi Annan has appointed a High-level Panel on UN-Civil Society Relations(chaired by the ex-president of Brazil, Fernando Enrique Cardoso – whom some may remember as a development economist).

THE CONFERENCE

The main speakers were -

Sebastian Ziegler, Chair of WCSF, and Mamadou Ndiaye, who co-ordinated the African representation at WCSF 1. A number of issues emerged -

• WCSF does not seek to represent CSOs, only to facilitate their engagement in debate and action
• what is a CSO? (after all, Monsanto and Middlesex University are both 'non-governmental')
• are some CSOs unacceptable? (government front human rights organizations, CSOs tainted with racism)
• what about CSOs dependent on government funding? (as many increasingly are)
• there may be conflict between CSOs (European farmers versus African farmers)
• difficulty of mobilization especially in LDCs
• involvement of the grass roots

Peter Willetts, Professor of Global Politics at City University, and a
mine of practical knowledge (much of the above background comes from his remarks)

Tony Hill, Head of the UN Non-Governmental Liaison Service, who talked extremely knowledgeably about the High-level Panel referred to above. This is more relevant to national level bodies

Keith Hindell, Chair of WCSF-SG, who introduced the conference and presented the results of a survey of 3870 UK CSOs as to their present and potential involvement with the UN. On the evidence of a magnificent 2.6% response rate it was concluded that there was significant CSO enthusiasm for deeper engagement!

DISCUSSION AND ISSUES

About 50 representatives from a wide range of CSOs debated the above contributions. Issues identified included -

• CSO mobilisation in LDCs
• cross-linkages (consortia) between CSOs with overlapping aims
• internal CSO processes (how democratic are THEY?)
• the conference voted in favour of a WCSF-SG seeking representation at the WCSF 2 planning meeting in July 2004
• Enfield UNA's 'digital branch' was well plugged (including by by Keith Hindell), but not pursued in the context