The United Nations, NGOs and Global Governance

Table of Contents

• FOREWARD
• OVERVIEW OF THE CONFERENCE DEBATE
• INTRODUCTION
• THE INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AGENDA
• THE DEVELOPMENT AGENDA AND COOPERATION, CONFERENCE FOLLOW-UP, AND UN-NGO COLLABORATION
• WHITHER THE UNITED NATIONS?
• NGOS AND GLOBAL GOVERNANCE
• THE GLOBAL GOVERNANCE AGENDA AND DEMOCRACY, EFFECTIVE ADVOCACY WORK, AND THE ECOSOC REVIEW ON NGO ARRANGEMENTS
• STRENGTHENING UN-NGO COOPERATION: VIEWS FROM THE UN SYSTEM
• THE UN, NGOS AND GLOBAL GOVERNANCE: CHALLENGES FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
• CLOSURE
• Annex I: PROGRAMME
• Annex II: LIST OF PARTICIPANTS
• Annex III: LIST OF ACRONYMS

INTRODUCTION

The meeting was opened by Tony Hill, Coordinator of NGLS, who recalled some of the highlights of NGLS's history and briefly described the evolution of relations between the UN system and NGOs over that period.

NGLS was created 20 years ago by a network of forward-looking UN staff and NGO activists who recognized the value of establishing an inter-agency, system-wide unit to work with NGOs. Rather than managing formal relationships, the unit would seek to collaborate actively with NGOs, particularly in the so-called "developed" countries, engaged in development education, campaigning and policy advocacy work on development issues of concern to the UN system.

Since that time, NGLS has played a pioneering role in facilitating NGO awareness of, and access to, the UN system, and advocating, within the system, broader and deeper cooperation with the NGO community. In the early years, NGLS introduced NGOs to the UN system by organizing thematic conferences in North America and national consultations in Europe. NGLS also played a vital role in helping NGOs participate in the major UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) North-South development conferences and other important UN events.

During the 1980s, NGLS developed its information outreach and publishing capacity, and continued to advocate within the UN for closer cooperation with NGOs. Important contributions of NGLS included its support for the NGO dimension of the 1986-1990 UN Programme of Action for African Economic Recovery and Development (UNPAAERD), the 1987 conference it organized with Oxfam, UNICEF and the World Bank on debt, adjustment and the needs of the poor, which contributed enormously to NGO work on structural adjustment; and the 1988 UNCTAD-NGO consultation NGLS organized on the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations, which made a decisive contribution in developing NGO work on the Uruguay Round and the World Trade Organization.

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, NGLS broadened its cooperation with NGOs from developing and transition countries. It also played a major role in facilitating NGO participation in the cycle of UN world conferences that began with UNCED in 1992. NGLS informed NGOs about the conference, managed funds to finance NGO participation, and supported the work of NGOs with a wide range of activities. NGLS has continued to help sponsoring UN agencies develop their own relations with the NGO community. Today, NGLS executes a highly appreciated information outreach programme with the publications Go Between, Roundup and E&D File and its directories. NGLS continues to publish innovative and challenging thinking on the UN, NGOs and development issues.

The key contributions of UN and NGO representatives to the work of NGLS over the past twenty years are far too long to list. But certain exceptional contributions must be mentioned, such as those of Ross Mountain and Angus Archer, who established NGLS in Geneva and New York respectively back in 1975 and 1976; and Thierry Lemaresquier, who as NGLS Coordinator until 1991, oversaw the consolidation of the then separate and autonomous NGLS offices in New York and Geneva into a single operation. Other important participants in NGLS's history are Michael McCoy, Susan Bovay and Jeanne Vickers, who all remain actively committed to stronger UN-NGO cooperation. NGLS also benefits from the support of numerous key figures and leaders in the UN system and the NGO community, and relies on its small, dedicated and excellent staff in Geneva and New York.

NGOs, in particular international ones, have been part of the UN landscape since it was created in 1945. They have played a vital role in influencing the UN agenda in areas such as human rights, disarmament, development, women's equality and the environment. In the 1990s, NGO interest and participation in the work of the UN has been growing enormously. NGOs, especially from developing countries, want to take part in shaping international policies and actions that affect their countries, and contribute to international dialogue on issues NGOs address in their work. Increased NGO interest and participation in the work of the UN has been most visible during UN world conferences since preparatory work for UNCED began in 1990. In fact, the substantive outcomes of recent UN conferences have been unprecedentedly influenced by the participation of NGOs, whose presence has increased the transparency and accountability of multilateral decision making and has contributed to international democratisation.

In addition to the major world conferences, NGOs have become more present across the entire UN system, including the commissions of ECOSOC, some governing bodies of UN system agencies, and in many areas of the UN system's work, such as development cooperation and policy negotiation, emergency operations and human rights. Most UN bodies and agencies concerned with economic and social development, and environmental sustainability, are reviewing and upgrading their policies and approaches to cooperation with NGOs.

The theme of the NGLS 20th anniversary conference was chosen, in line with NGLS's role and mandate, to enable participants to take stock of UN-NGO cooperation over the past few years. In particular, participants were asked to discuss ways of strengthening the role of NGOS at the international level, identify successful cases of UN-NGO cooperation, and explore how the NGO community and the UN system can improve cooperation in pursuit of their common goals.