From "consultative arrangements" to "partnership": The changing status of NGOs in diplomacy at the UN

Global Governance

Volumn 6, Issue 2, 2000, Pages 191-212

  Willetts, Peter ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 0034344753     PISSN: 10752846     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1163/19426720-00602003     Document Type: Review

References (74)

1. "List of Non-Governmental Organizations in Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council as at 31 July 1999," UN Doc. E/1999/INF/5, 4 November 1999. A total of 1,701 NGOs are listed: 111 have general status, 918 have special status, and 672 are on the roster.
2. Section III of Agenda 21 was addressed to "moving towards real social partnership" between "major groups" and governments: see UN Doc. A/CONF. 151/26 (Vol. III), 14 August 1992, par. 23.4. Similarly, Chapter XV of the program of action of the International Conference on Population and Development was titled "Partnership with the Non-Governmental Sector": see UN Doc. A/CONF.171/ 13 and Add.1, 18 October 1994. Perhaps the strongest conference language about partnership with NGOs appears in the program of action of the World Summit for Social Development, in UN Doc. A/CONF.166/9, 19 April 1995, particularly chap. 5. In addition, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has signed agreements with more than 240 NGOs to work with them as operational partners: see UNHCR & NGOs. Directory of Non-Governmental Organisations (Geneva: UNHCR, October 1992).
3. ECOSOC first consolidated the main aspects of the consultative arrangements for NGOs in a single text as Resolution 288B (X), 27 February 1950. The text was subsequently readopted with revisions as Resolution 1296 (XLIV), 23 May 1968, and then again as Resolution 1996/31, 25 July 1996. The quoted text is identical in all three versions: Resolution 288B, par. 12; Resolution 1296, par. 12; and Resolution 1996/31, par. 18.
4. I must emphasize that in this article I do not advocate change but describe change that has already taken place.
5. ECOSOC Resolutions 288B, 1296, and 1996/31 (see Note 3). The term statute is not the standard way to refer to these three ECOSOC resolutions. But Resolution 288D did officially refer to Resolution 288B as "the revised statute," and it is a useful way of indicating their constant use and their unchallenged status.
6. Agenda 21, pars. 27.6, 38.43, 38.44.
7. ECOSOC Resolution 1296, par. 17, and a more liberal phrasing in Resolution 1996/31, par. 25.
8. For example, in 1997, the NGO Committee handled 164 applications, accepting 142, deferring 12, and rejecting 10. Only one of the decisions to reject an organization was sufficiently controversial to require a vote. Several were so clearly against the rules that it is surprising they had bothered to apply: see UN Doc. E/1997/90, 3 July 1997.
9. There was identical wording granting participation rights, "unless the Council decides otherwise," in Resolution 288B, par. 33, and Resolution 1296, par. 34, but it was not implemented in the rules of procedure of conferences.
10. Agenda 21, pars. 23.3, 38.44.
11. ECOSOC Decision 1993/220, 26 May 1993.
12. ECOSOC Decision 1996/208, 9 February 1996.
13. UNFPA, "Meeting of the Non-Governmental Organization Advisory Committee at UNFPA 12-13 April 1995," UN Population Fund, Technical Report No. 5, 1995, New York.
14. "Report of Committee II," chap. V in "Report of the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II)," UN Doc. A/CONF.165/14, 7 August 1996, Colombia, on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, expressed doubts about including the committee report in the main conference report, and the Iranian delegation actively opposed inclusion.
15. See Connections, Newsletter of the UN Environment and Development U.K. Committee, August-October 1996, for a brief assessment by Felix Dodds of his participation in Habitat II; UN Doc. A/CONF.165/INF.8 for the NGO composite text The sensitivity of governments is shown by the joint NGO text being in the Information Document series rather than the Limited series or the Conference Room Paper series.
16. ECOSOC Resolution 1996/31, pars. 4-8, none of which were present in Resolution 1296 (XLIV).
17. UN General Assembly, Resolutions 104 (S-I) and 105 (S-I) (5 and 7 May 1947), provided for "the First Committee to grant a hearing" to the Jewish Agency for Palestine and the Arab Higher Committee, respectively.
18. ECOSOC Resolution 288B, par. 40(f); Resolution 1296, par. 46(f); and Resolution 1996/31, par. 67(f), each contained the wording quoted.
19. Yearbook of the United Nations 1971 (New York: UN Office of Public Information, 1974), p. 56.
20. See ICPD 94: Newsletter of the International Conference on Population and Development, no. 10 (November-December 1993), p. 5, and UN Doc. A/ C.2/48/SR.25, 5 November 1993. Billie Miller was president of the Western Hemisphere Region of the International Planned Parenthood Federation.
21. The "Report of the Secretary-General," presented at the start of the post-UNCED review, says that "a number of Main Committees have devised informal arrangements which have allowed NGO representatives to make oral statements": see UN Doc. E/AC.70/1994/5, 26 May 1994, p. 42.
22. UN General Assembly, Resolution 45/6 (16 October 1990).
23. UN Doc. A/48/957, 29 June 1994, p. 3. The Sovereign Military Order of Malta was granted observer status by UN General Assembly, Resolution 48/265 (24 August 1994).
24. UN General Assembly, Resolution 49/2 (19 October 1994).
25. Observer status for the International Federation was proposed on 16 August 1994 (in the end being endorsed by 103 countries): see UN Doc. A/49/100/Add.1, 11 October 1994, p. 53. The response from the United States came on 19 September 1994 in UN Doc. A/49/231.
26. UN General Assembly, Decision 49/426 (9 December 1994).
27. ECOSOC, "Chairman's Proposals for the Pending Paragraphs," 29 May 1996, and "Status of Informal Negotiations of the ECOSOC Working Group ... on July 8, 1996," both of which are unofficial working papers of the ECOSOC Open-Ended Working Group.
28. Draft decision E/1996/L.24, officially tabled on 16 July 1996 and approved without amendment as ECOSOC Decision 1996/297, 25 July 1996.
29. UN press release ECOSOC/5684, 25 July 1996.
30. The only effect of invoking Article 10 as a constraint on ECOSOC Decision 1996/297 can be its reference forward to Article 12. Objections to any role for NGOs in the Security Council were made explicit in a private conversation between the U.S. delegate to the Open-Ended Working Group and another head of delegation, reported to the author.
31. See S. D. Bailey, The Procedure of the UN Security Council (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975), pp. 346 and 350, respectively.
32. See UN documents in the S/NC/... series, covering "Communications Received from Private Individuals and Non-Governmental Bodies Relating to Matters of Which the Security Council Is Seized," and the T/PET.10/... series, covering petitions to the Trusteeship Council.
33. "Report of the Open-Ended Working Group on the Review of Arrangements for Consultations with Non-Governmental Organisations on Its Second Session, Compilation of Proposals," UN Doc. E/1995/83/Add. 1, 6 June 1995, par. 1.1. This text remained the focus of the debate until 29 May 1996.
34. The "UN system" is generally taken to include all the specialized agencies (which are independent legal entities), whereas "all areas of the work of the United Nations" could be interpreted as covering no more than bodies and programs subordinate to the assembly or the council.
35. Go Between, no. 64 (June-July 1997), p. 22.
36. This account is taken from Go Between, no. 62 (February-March 1997), p. 17; no. 64 (June-July 1997), p. 22 ; and no. 65 (August-September 1997), p. 2; and from some participants in the subgroup, in conversations with the author.
37. This account is taken from Go Between, no. 62 (February-March 1997), p. 17; no. 64 (June-July 1997), p. 22 ; and no. 65 (August-September 1997), p. 2; and from some participants in the subgroup, in conversations with the author.
38. This account is taken from Go Between, no. 62 (February-March 1997), p. 17; no. 64 (June-July 1997), p. 22 ; and no. 65 (August-September 1997), p. 2; and from some participants in the subgroup, in conversations with the author.
39. Go Between, no. 63 (April-May 1997), p. 11; and an internal UN Secretariat memo on the Chilean press conference on 12 February 1997.
40. Go Between, no. 66 (October-November 1997), p. 2, covering the meeting of 25 September 1997. The wording of this report, "Oxfam International said ...," could give the impression that Oxfam addressed the council. This did not happen, even informally, but Oxfam did issue a press statement and was able to speak to some of the foreign ministers.
41. UN General Assembly, Resolution 50/113, adopted without a vote on 20 December 1995; quote from operative par. 11.
42. UN General Assembly, Resolution 51/181, adopted without a vote on 16 December 1996; quote from operative par. 3.
43. The text tabled by the president is given in UN Docs. A/51/864, 7 April 1997, and A/51/L.70, 18 April 1997.
44. The debate is reported in UN Doc. A/51/PV.96, and the outcome was an amended text, Decision 51/467 (18 April 1997), adopted without a vote.
45. Derek Osborn, chair of the UN Environment and Development U.K. Committee, chaired the Working Group on Sectoral Issues of the Assembly's Ad Hoc Committee of the Whole. Although he held this position as an official member of the U.K. delegation, he was not subject to instructions from the U.K. government.
46. Canadian proposal in UN Doc. A/52/L.71, adopted as UN General Assembly, Decision 52/453 (19 December 1997).
47. "Arrangements and Practices for the Interaction of Non-Governmental Organizations in All Activities of the United Nations System: Report of the Secretary-General," UN Doc. A/53/170, 10 July 1998.
48. Ibid., pars. 77-79, respectively.
49. "Communiqué of the Ministerial Meeting of the Co-ordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement," Cartagena, Colombia, 19-20 May 1998, par. 68; "Final Document of the Twelfth Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement," Durban, South Africa, 2-3 September 1998, par. 75.
50. The same summit conference contradicted the principle that NGOs had no role in an intergovernmental forum by according guest status at the summit to six NGOs, alongside twenty-eight governments and ten intergovernmental organizations: see "Report of the Rapporteur-General," in UN Doc. A/53/667-S/1998/1071, 13 November 1998.
51. "The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action," UN Doc. A/CONF.157/23, 12 July 1993, part II, par. 100; UN General Assembly, Resolution A/52/148, 12 December 1997, pars. 11-16.
52. "Report of the Commission on Population and Development Acting as the Preparatory Committee for the Twenty-First Special Session of the General Assembly," UN Doc. A/S-21/2, chap. V; "Report of the Commission on Sustainable Development Acting as the Preparatory Committee for the Special Session of the General Assembly for the Review and Appraisal of the Implementation of the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States," UN Doc. A/S-22/2, chap. V; UN General Assembly, Resolution A/52/92, 12 December 1997, convening the Special Session on drugs, had also used the Earth Summit II formula on consultations by the president. It was also bypassed, when the Commission on Narcotic Drugs on 20 March 1998 took the decision on NGO participation: see UN Doc. A/S-20/4, 17 April 1998.
53. "Report of the Preparatory Committee for the Special Session of the General Assembly for an Overall Review and Appraisal of the Implementation of the Habitat Agenda, Organizational Session 13 May 1999," UN Doc. HS/C/PC.O/4, 25 May 1999, par. 14.
54. Canadian proposal in UN Doc. A/53/L.68, 8 December 1998, approved unamended as UN General Assembly, Decision 53/452 (17 December 1998).
55. Report of the Secretary-General, UN Doc. A/54/329, 8 September 1999.
56. NGOs are referred to as "other competent bodies" in Article 45 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and in Rule 34(2) of the Provisional Rules of Procedure of the Committee on the Rights of the Child: see, respectively, the Annex to UN General Assembly, Resolution 44/25 (20 November 1989) and "Report of the Committee on the Rights of the Child," UN Doc. A/47/41, 1 June 1992, p. 27. My essay quotes from Article 45 of the convention.
57. UN Doc. E/AC/70/1994/NGO/7, 21 June 1994. These arrangements are credited by the authors of the document, the British Overseas Aid Group, "in some instances" with causing "the Government concerned to review its policies affecting children." 56. "Commission on Sustainable Development, Report on the Third Session, 11-28 April 1995," UN Doc. E/1995/32-E/CN.17/1995/36, p. 52. In the same document, the commission also specified that "the Panel should seek inputs of major groups [i.e., NGOs] in all activities in its programme of work."
58. ECOSOC Resolution 1995/2, 3 July 1995, par. 7.
59. "Notes of Meeting of International NGO/PHC Group," Geneva, Palais des Nations, 1 May 1995, circulated as a memorandum among NGOs concerned with primary health care. Pages 12-14 cover Eric Chevallier outlining the establishment of UNAIDS.
60. Resolution 1995/2, Annex, par. 2(g).
61. UN Doc. A/CONF.165/14, 7 August 1996, chap. I, Section 1, Istanbul Declaration on Human Settlements and the Habitat Agenda, par. 223; endorsed with minimal amendment as General Assembly Resolution 51/177, opening par. 21, and adopted without a vote on 16 December 1996; derived from a proposal of the UN Environment and Development U.K. Committee that was formulated at a meeting in London, 29-30 January 1996.
62. Ibid. The Istanbul Declaration referred just to the rules of procedure, whereas Resolution 51/177 added a reference to ECOSOC Resolution 1996/31.
63. "Review of the Working Methods of the Commission on Human Settlements: Report of the Executive Director," UN Doc. HS/C/16/4, 10 February 1997, pars. 9-13.
64. NGLS Roundup, July 1997, "16th Session of Commission on Human Settlements," p. 3.
65. Commission on Human Settlements Resolution 16/12, 7 May 1997.
66. Reparation for Injuries Suffered in the Service of the United Nations, International Court of Justice Reports, 1949, pp. 178-179.
67. Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties Between States and International Organizations or Between International Organizations, March 1986.
68. Compare N. D. White, The Law of International Organisations (Manchester, England: Manchester University Press, 1996), which covers only intergovernmental organizations and ignores international NGOs, with M. N. Shaw, International Law (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), which explicitly recognizes the International Committee of the Red Cross as having international personality (p. 192) and discusses when transnational corporations may do so (pp. 176-177, 193).
69. Compare N. D. White, The Law of International Organisations (Manchester, England: Manchester University Press, 1996), which covers only intergovernmental organizations and ignores international NGOs, with M. N. Shaw, International Law (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), which explicitly recognizes the International Committee of the Red Cross as having international personality (p. 192) and discusses when transnational corporations may do so (pp. 176-177, 193).
70. The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted a draft European Convention on the Recognition of the Legal Personality of International Non-Governmental Organisations on 24 October 1985. It was opened for signature on 24 April 1986 and came into force on 1 January 1991. However, this convention only marginally affects the arguments about the status of NGOs in international law, as it is concerned with mutual recognition of the granting of legal personality in domestic law.
71. The first use of this phrase of which the author is aware occurs in Decision 1/1 of the Preparatory Committee of the UN Conference on Environment and Development, 14 August 1990, given in UN Doc. A/45/46, 25 January 1991, p. 22.
72. ECOSOC Resolution 1996/31, 25 July 1996, par. 50. It is interesting that the text appears in Part VII on UN conferences but not in relation to participation in ECOSOC.
73. Submission by the International Federation of Settlements and Neighbourhood Centres to the 1995 session of the Open-Ended Working Group, UN Doc. E/AC.70/1995/NGO/7, 3 May 1995, p. 4.
74. NGLS Round Up, Habitat II, September 1996, p. 10.