Consultation on the NGO/UN Relationship, 3 November 1999, 3:00 PM-5:00 PM

This meeting was the second in a series of consultations convened by the Conference of NGOs to review issues relating to NGO participation in UN meetings having arisen inconnection with the work of the ECOSOC Committee on NGOs, and to suggest avenues forresolving points of difficulty that have been circulating among NGOs, Missions and the Secretariat. NGO representatives, Member State delegates, and Secretariat staff were allinvited to attend. Approximately 50 persons participated in the meeting, with member staterepresentatives attending from Cuba, Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway and the USA.

Building on the preliminary session of October 1st, discussion on each agenda addressedexperiences having arisen in connection with Commission meetings and other UN sessions,and sought to identify what might be flexible yet effective frameworks to ensure bothorder and broad-based NGO representation and participation in UN meetings, as codified byResolution 1996/31.Before beginning the meeting's business, the group observed a moment of silence in memoryof our friend and colleague Eleanor Brown, whose recent passing has saddened us greatly.Afaf Mahfouz, CONGO President, who chaired the meeting, began by announcing that theseMinutes will be posted for feedback on the CONGO access listserv and website(www.ngocongo.org), and suggested that member state representatives submit any comments in writing, so that there is nodanger of misquoting.

How to gather data on the number of people who register for, and those who actuallyattend, Commissions and other UN meetings
In announcing the first agenda item, Afaf observed that most NGOs do not understand why NGO numbers are perceived to be a problem. In her remarks, Hanifa Mezoui of the UN NGO Section concurred, and asked Michele Fedoroff to present preliminary data which suggeststhat the numbers of NGOs registered for specific Commission meetings generally exceeds the number that actually attend. Michele presented information from the Commissions onSocial Development, Population and Development (including the ICPD+5 PrepCom), SustainableDevelopment and the Status of Women. In all of them, numbers suggests that since 1988there has been between a 30-50% discrepancy between pre-registrants and actual attendees.The only Commission for which there is not such data is Human Rights, but it will begathered going forward. Similarly, greater attention will be paid to gathering thisinformation at other future Commission meetings.

In the discussion, a participant observed that this data, when examined over time, willhelp us to identify general trends and fluctuations, such as those relating to SpecialSessions and their PrepCom, which generally attract more NGO attendees than regularCommission meetings. It was also commented that it was a pity that a representative of UNSecurity was not in attendance, given their past promise to help us gather relevant dataand come up with related solutions.

Further defining the need for data, another person asked whether there is a way to knowhow many NGO representatives are at a particular UN meeting at any given time. While the NGO Section does not feel that they have the human resources to do such detailed trackingat this time, it was suggested that an informal survey could be taken with NGO assistance,perhaps via sheets at the Conference Officer's desk in each official meeting room, which NGOs could sign up every time they entered. The representative from Cuba observed thatthis is difficult information to gather, but others felt that even a general picture wouldbe helpful. an NGO representative asked whether similar information could not be gatheredfor the Second and Third Committees, where NGO numbers have been quite low, and shouldincrease. Another person made a plea for lists of NGO participants at Commission meetings,which would be useful for networking.

Esmerelda Brown, Chair of the NGO Steering Committee for Sustainable Development, observedthat at the Commission for Sustainable Development there were more actual attendees thanthe number gathered by the NGO Section. She conjectured that this could be because a largenumber of participants attending had ECOSOC status (and hence needed not register). Shealso observed that numbers of attendees might be generally lower than registrants becausemany participants from developing countries register for meetings in the hope of attending,then are unable to do so because of scarce resources. Another person drew notice toanother possible cause, that people sometimes do not expect to attend, but wish to seetheir name in the program anyway. These observations supported the idea of an informalsurvey instrument to get to the true numbers of NGOs at specific meetings.

Techeste Ahderom, CONGO Secretary, who co-chaired a portion of the meeting, observed that NGO instinct on numbers not being a problem in and of themselves has been borne out, butmentioned that we still need more information on where bottlenecks do occur. We need tolook at each Commission on a case-by-case basis, including those where numbers have neverbeen perceived to be a problem (eg. Statistics), and learn which agenda items bri NGO vercrowding, and who the NGOs are that attend for all agenda items. This informationshould be extended to learn who is requesting to speak when.

Update from the NGO Section on guidelines for NGOs when visiting UN Headquarters
On this agenda item, Hanifa Mezoui stated that guidelines for NGOs are all over the UN,and for example are included in publications by NGLS and DPI, and in the recent report bythe Secretary-General. She also mentioned document A/54/329, which contains member stateand NGO responses to that report. She committed the NGO Section to gathering and publishingthose guidelines, along the lines of their publication of more substantive guidelines for NGO work at the UN. Hanifa asked CONGO and DPI participate with the NGO Section inreviewing this material, in consultation with other NGOs, to finalize a publication byMarch 2000. It was also suggested that the guidelines eventually appear on the NGO Section's Web site.

Lessons from the NGO Commission on Sustainable Development-how to open and maintain clearchannels of communication and problem-solving with Bureaus and member states
On Agenda Item #3, Esmerelda Brown, Chair of the NGO Steering Committee on SustainableDevelopment, recounted the development of NGO facilitation for the Commission onSustainable Development. It dates back to the post-UNCED period, when NGOs decided toorganize strategically to eliminate potential misunderstandings. This process culminatedin the creation of the Steering Committee, comprised of NGO representatives from South andNorth, and in the decision to seek regular meetings with the Commission Secretariat. Thisarrangement has functioned well for 5 years, with a Secretariat liaison person assigned towork with the Committee, member states increasingly comfortable with NGO input, and NGOsable to highlight their expertise. to manage the diversity of the caucuses and regionalgroupings attending Commission meetings, the committee provides basic orientation onprocedures and comportment, and each day conducts meetings to strategize on the handli NGO f available NGOspeaker slots, with an emphasis on speaking from consensus. Esmereldaallowed that this can be tricky, but that it keeps decisionmaking in NGO hands. TheCommittees main challenge is finding resources to get people to meetings, and fortranslation. The use of internet technology has been very useful for the Committee.

Additional lessons from the Commission on the Status of Women, the Commission on HumanRights, and Commission on Social Development
In the discussion, Afaf raised the importance for all NGOs to balance coordination withthe need to allow NGOs at large to participate in UN consultative processes. The Chair ofthe Committee on Social Development said that their procedures are similar to the SteeringCommittee, though it is a less formal process due to fewer people being involved. TheChair of the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development noted that the committee hasinterlocking membership with the Steering Committee, and coordinates closely. Another NGO representative observed that few NGO committees emerge as directly from a UN worldconference as did the Steering Committee, with this and other dimensions of its historynot entirely easy to replicate.

Adding to this discussion, the former Chair of the Committee on the Status of Womendescribed the past four CSW sessions as increasingly productive. The committee sets uptopical task forces, which then turn into caucuses at the actual Commission meeting. Thegroup selects spokespersons on the basis of diversity criteria, but among problems: thereis no guarantee that people on the NGOspeakers list will be called; and there is a biasagainst individual NGOs making independent statements. on the latter point, arepresentative of UNIFEM observed that there is no reason to expect that a diversegrouping of NGOs will all be able to speak with a single voice. Other NGO representativesconcurred with this point.

Techeste, speaking from the experience of the Commission on Human Rights, remarked that NGOs should anticipate problems at forthcoming commission meetings, and take necessary steps,for example control the number of times each NGO can speak. We do not want to end up in asituation where we are relegated to speak after delegates, who will then just leave. Weneed to keep our current rights, but respond intelligently to some government concerns.Another NGO participant agreed that we ought to affirm the notion that all NGOs have theright to speak and circulate statements, but seek opportunities for common action asappropriate. Member states reserve the right to speak individually, and as clusters, sosuch a principle should be applicable to NGO contributions as well.

On a final note, a participant observed that NGOs must keep from being paralyzed by thethought that they are not welcome at the UN. Instead, they should focus on the existingprerogatives in ECOSCO Resolution 1996/31 and what they are therefore able to do. It maybe a role for CONGO to assist in this regard.