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

THE DEVELOPMENT AGENDA AND COOPERATION, CONFERENCE FOLLOW-UP, AND UN-NGO COLLABORATION

Discussion Groups

Three discussion groups made up the afternoon session:

• linking work at the international and national levels and follow-up to UN world conferences;
• responding to the international agenda and the crisis in development cooperation; and
• strengthening UN-NGO collaboration for sustainable, human-centred development.

The following summary highlights the main observations, viewpoints and recommendations arising from these discussion groups.

Some NGOs question the importance of participating in UN conferences. While presenting a great opportunity for NGO networking, the conference outcomes are not binding and are based on consensus--often the lowest common denominator. Do the conferences take NGOs away from their real work at the national and local levels? On the other hand, other NGOs feel that the UN conferences are extremely important because they set international standards against which governments and other stakeholders are held accountable. Thus, it is vital that NGOs participate in UN conferences, at least to prevent the erosion of established principles. One example is the Asian NGO declaration for the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights, which endorsed the universality and indivisibility of human rights, making it difficult for governments in the region to reject this approach. Another useful function of international conferences is to put issues on the international and public agenda. Simply put, the international conferences organized by the UN "help to keep the world together."

NGOs have become much more effective and influential in placing issues on the international agenda and into negotiated intergovernmental texts, but many remain ill-prepared in following up on international decision-making processes. Some NGOs are issue-oriented and effective at lobbying but lack a strong base or field presence. Other NGOs are strong at the local level but inexperienced in international advocacy work. Nor do all NGOs have extensive relations with other NGOs. National NGO networks are perhaps the best-placed mechanisms for follow-up to international conferences, but NGOs involved at the international level often do not report back, or do so only rarely. There is a great need for consultation mechanisms at the national level between NGOs that are internationally active and other national NGOs and local organizations. This would help address the issue of accountability and provide a framework for concerted follow-up.

While networking and cooperation between NGOs and other community organizations at the national level are important, these efforts have been hampered by competition among NGOs for funding. Donor funding policies are not helpful since they largely follow the "project" approach, which makes it difficult to fund processes. Democratizing the NGO movement will, however, require considerable investment in processes leading to consultation, transparency and accountability. Donors might, however, be interested in supporting effective consultative structures and systems.

For NGOs, particularly from developing countries, translating the agreements reached at UN conferences into their national context is a daunting problem. Yet, there are also many examples of how international work opens up space at the national level to move the development agenda forward. It is necessary to be creative and ensure people know about and own those international decisions with the potential to improve their lives.

UN conferences have produced a wide range of proposals and recommendations, many of which NGOs support. Tripartite relationships between governments, the UN and NGOs should be established at the national level to implement conference follow-up. It is wrong to say that lack of resources is the only factor impeding conference follow-up in the South. In a country like Mexico, the use of resources to pay off an unjust debt burden is the issue. People in the South are already extensively engaged at the national level in issues including desertification, biodiversity and sustainable agriculture, without necessarily knowing that these issues are being discussed in the international arena as sustainable development. Progress in formulating sustainable human development indicators has opened up new avenues for NGO monitoring work.

In France, the United Kingdom and the United States there are extensive and dynamic processes of follow-up to the Earth Summit and subsequent UN conferences involving major groups and others. In these countries, creating local Agenda 21s, which integrate the results of subsequent UN conferences, is an extremely important focus for public mobilization and citizen participation. In Nepal, NGO follow-up to UNCED includes sensitizing and helping the media disseminate, in different national languages, new ideas on sustainability emerging from the international conferences. In India, NGOs played a key role in the decision to establish a National Commission on Social Development in follow-up to the WSSD. The proposal has been introduced into Parliament and a working group is studying the required legal and constitutional changes. Among other things, the new commission would monitor the spending of India's state governments on social objectives.

Some NGOs see a contradiction between the social objectives and goals agreed to at UN conferences and the real social impact of the global economy. Instead of the new and additional resources called for at UNCED and other conferences, new and additional budget cuts are being made. The international economic system, now in a phase of globalization, is neither just nor equitable. NGOs should support a world conference on Money, Trade and Finance, an idea put forth by some governments, to address this issue.

While many NGOs participate in UN conferences and their accompanying NGO forums, there is much less NGO presence in the ongoing work of the UN. Some international NGOs face criticism from their memberships and from other organizations for not facilitating more ongoing NGO participation at the international level. International NGOs should do more to empower their members and other organizations; in the long run, this would strengthen international NGOs. A new willingness among human rights NGOs to cooperate and network emerged at the 1993 Vienna Conference.

While there is an aid crisis, some NGOs feel that cooperation based on the aid relationship is already flawed because of the commercial and foreign policy interests of donor countries. There may now be an opportunity to reduce aid dependence and even develop new institutions for cooperation. The aid crisis is impacting the NGO community in a number of ways. Some Northern NGOs that are highly dependent upon government funding are facing difficulties, while in the South, the reduction and redirection of official aid flows may increase competition between NGOs and governments. NGOs that are clear about their mission, role and constituency are better able to confront the challenge of declining official aid. Problems arise when NGOs take on traditional government roles in order to maintain their funding.

NGOs must find common ground for a strategic response to the aid crisis, based on the principles of empowerment and democracy. With the South defining its own priorities, Northern NGOs need stronger links with people's initiatives and popular movements in their own societies. Development is not just an issue for the South, but a global problem. If NGOs advocate for increased aid, they must pay more attention to its quality.

In response to the need for coordination, transparency and accountability, NGOs have established new mechanisms such as the NGO Steering Committee for the Commission on Sustainable Development and the Réseau International des ONG sur la Désertification (RIOD). RIOD was established by NGOs to contribute to the implementation of the desertification convention. In order to remain a member, participants must practically demonstrate their commitment and contributions to the work of the network.

The Partnership in Action (PARinAC) process, undertaken over the last two years by UNHCR and the International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA), and involving many NGOs worldwide, is an important example of UN-NGO consultation and dialogue on UN-NGO cooperation. NGLS is also playing a valuable role in facilitating NGO participation in UN events and processes and should explore the possibility of strengthening its presence in the South. NGLS might also consider compiling and making available the commitments agreed to at various UN conferences, as well as information on the "best practices" of UN-NGO cooperation.

NGOs are concerned that the UN considers non-profit business organizations to be on a par with NGOs. For some NGOs, these business groups have no place in international policy dialogue, since they do not represent the public interest. For others, it is strategically vital to involve the business community in honouring the commitments made at world conferences. NGOs must be clear about their own definition of themselves, or governments will devise a definition for them. Attempting to define who, or what, NGOs represent is a complex and sensitive question. What is the meaning of the term NGO when NGOs tender for government aid contracts, or when they are up to 100% dependent on government finance?