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 UN, NGOS AND GLOBAL GOVERNANCE: CHALLENGES FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

Reflections Panel

As part of the final session of the conference, five NGO representatives presented one or two key concluding observations. What follows is a summary of their remarks.

Roberto Bissio (Uruguay) said that with the cycle of major UN conferences coming to an end in 1996, the dynamism of international policy work of NGOs will have to be maintained in other ways. NGOs need to develop and strengthen global networking and information sharing and maintain their demands upon the international system. The UN should remove some of the obstacles faced by NGOs in gaining access to institutions, discussions and information. The approaching "end of long distance" will remove, or at least reduce, many of the technical and financial constraints on increased communication and cooperation between NGOs across virtually all regions.

In addressing the agenda of the future, NGOs should not forget that the transformations occurring simultaneously around the world were not created by any institution--they were produced by people. Democratization and major cultural changes are bringing about major changes in the way people think. NGOs should not forget this when facing big institutions with money and power.

Sekai Holland (Zimbabwe) expressed her concern, and those of her African colleagues, that the main trend of global governance appears to be the weakening of the UN. The UN is vital to Africa, and without it Africa will be further marginalized. UN reform should not be just management- and efficiency-driven, but informed by a shared vision of the system of global governance that the world needs. The General Assembly has to be empowered. The UN-NGO alliance is a democratizing force.

More of the international development policy dialogue has to move to the South. NGOs from the North and South are learning to work better together on global issues. At the same time, many of Africa's issues are Africa-specific. There needs to be more UN-NGO collaboration in the South to cultivate government support for progressive change. In Africa, there is a need to build consultative mechanisms between NGOs and at all levels of government.

Michel Faucon (France) said that the world is entering into a new era in which international relations are being developed between societies and peoples and are no longer the monopoly of governments and the private sector. Nobody knows where this is heading, but the world is poised for momentous change.

Although governments feel threatened by them, NGOs do not want to replace governments; NGOs just want them to do their job better. Since NGOs are not power-seeking structures, they do not necessarily represent social or political constituencies. Therefore, they do not need to be representative in that sense to have a legitimate role. NGOs do not separate the methodology and the substance of their work. Although they may be tempted, NGOs must avoid competing, creating an NGO elite, and mimicking the structures of power.

The greatest challenge is to build a culture of trust. Trust has to be earned and cannot be imposed. Without trust it is necessary to use heavy, complicated contractual arrangements that, in any case, do not work. True cooperation obliges partners to be aware of what they have to offer before considering what they have to gain; this is the basis of solidarity. NGOs need to build a strategy to address the weakness of political power structures and develop new skills and forge alliances with other sectors of civil society.

Amitava Mukherjee (India) said that the agenda for NGOs in the South has changed enormously. Global forces are increasing poverty and hunger and establishing neocolonial forms of exploitation of developing countries. NGOs do not have an alternative model, but have an alternative set of values. Cooperation with transnational corporations with a view to making them socially responsible undermines the moral basis of NGOs; they should agree upon common criteria for accepting financing from multilateral banks and official institutions.

Maria Onestini (Argentina) said the issue of relationships of NGOs to states is at the heart of UN-NGO relations. Nation states face a crisis and are becoming weaker in formulating and implementing their own development policies. The UN, an amalgamation of nation states, is also getting weaker. The BWIs and WTO are filling decision-making vacuums. The UN is the best thing the world has to resolve conflicts of all kinds. NGOs have to decide whether or not to invest resources in strengthening it. NGOs also have to decide how they want to relate to the non-NGO members of civil society, such as business groups. Civil society is not homogeneous, and it might be better to say that NGOs reflect rather than represent different parts of civil society.