Miami Advice
A new drama unfolds in the Globolog discussion forums. Phil Bloomer, of Oxfam's fair trade campaign, has been writing regular updates from the trade talks in Miami, where, as this goes online, Phil reckons that "the 1990s neo-liberal model for hemispheric development may be terminally weakened. The danger is what takes its place". Read the latest reports and post your comments, questions and criticisms in the discussion.
UN Forgiven
Billy Connolly, a comedian, once observed that Scotland's contribution to the 20th century was staggering. Sometimes, it seems, the same can be said of the UN. In spring 2003, Richard Perle reckoned (and, perhaps, hoped) Saddam Hussein would take the United Nations down with him. But this institution, created by the United States at a time of extraordinary farsightedness ("We all have to recognise, no matter how great our strength, that we must deny ourselves the license to do always as we please" - Harry Truman, 1945), has a way of getting back on its feet. Even George W. Bush, in a speech in London on 19 November, said that the US wanted to promote and strengthen the effectiveness of international institutions.
As beasties go, the UN is a starved wee critter. Its total annual budget is around $1.25 billion, about the same amount as the US spends on the military every 32 hours.
And its legitimacy and competence are as questionable as its finances. Not least, this club for sovereign nations has what Ian Williams describes as a statistically significant number of states which commit major violations of human rights on its Human Rights Committee.
Nevertheless, stepping ever so gingerly, UN secretary-general Kofi Annan is trying to strengthen the UN's own picayune apparatus as a force for good. Earlier this month he set up a panel to review the UN's global role.
Less noticed, however, is an initiatve to review relations between UN institutions and the multitude of civil society groups, generally termed non-government organisations. The number of NGOs with consultative status to Ecosoc is huge (it appears to be lower than Globolog's April estimate, but the list still runs to 16 pages, with at least 500 NGOs ranging from the Chemical Manufacturers Association to the Sudanese Environment Conservation Society).
Annan wants to make more sense out of what looks close to an unmanageable hodgepodge, to forge an accountability that works. And in February 2003 he appointed a Panel of Eminent Personson UN-Civil Society Relations to help him do so. The Panel has undertaken what it describes as global consultations with a diversity of constituencies (NGOs, parliamentarians, local authorities, private sector groups, indigenous peoples organisations, trade unions, mayors and others) to inform its report and recommendations to the secretary-general. The six-month consultation period runs to the end of this year (an online response form gives an October deadline, but you can write to civilsocietypanel@un.org until the end of December).
Earlier this week, panel members Malini Mehra from India and Mary Racelis from the Philippines met with around sixty UK representatives in London in a consultation organised by the One World Trust and the Centre for Social Markets. And in a note published on 17 November, the Panel listed areas of concern coming up in the consultations. At the time of writing, there is no version of these on the Panel's website so a copy is given in a box here:
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Concern that High-Level Panels Report to the UN Secretary General may not be made public will be a contradiction of an open and inclusive consultation process if it is not publicly released.
- World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), preparatory process seen as deeply unsatisfactory in way in which NGOs are being involved. A step back, not a step forward.
- Danger of overload UN as presently constituted and resourced not able to deal with increasing NGO demands.
- At the moment, the new areas of influence open to those who have power and money and influence need to ensure balanced representation on north/ south issues, and recognise important role of youth.
- Challenge of getting smaller groups and citizens groups engaged in UN processes and implementation. Need to ensure pluralism, and avoid vested interests forming, by ensuring diversity in both size and representation.
- Consultative and Accreditation rules need to be reviewed especially in context of de-accreditation/ de-selecting groups.
- Global civil society needs to connect much more effectively with national civil society. Mechanisms are needed for this, and both top-down and bottom-up pressure promoting this.
- Profound concern about closure of United Nations Information Centre in UK. Criticism that this makes little sense in world where the case for action through the UN increasingly made.
- Inadequate learning by the UN internally from best practice on UN-civil society engagement. For example, Habitat II seen as exemplary. Why has the UN - having got it right in Istanbul - now going backwards. This seen as part of the dysfunctionality of the UN.
Globolog talked to Panel member Malini Mehra about these concerns. Point one, secrecy. "This is a private panel set up by the secretary-general to advise him personally", said Mehra. There were certain things Annan could be shown in private so that he could make a judgement as to how much risk, time and political capital he might invest in them. Nevertheless the Panel's findings would be given to the General Assembly in April 2004.
Point two, troubled relations between NGOs and governments at the forthcoming World Summit on the Information Society. WSIS will be reported and analysed by Solana Larsen in next week's edition of openDemocracy. Larsen cites William Drake of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility: "Basically, you have a bunch of dictatorships sitting around discussing which language on freedom of expression they can agree with".
But information technology is a long way from being the only concern. The Panel has received hundreds of specific recommendations on every aspect of UN/civil society relations, Mehra told Globolog. Ranking them was hard, but one of the most prominent was the deselection of some NGOs from consultative status. The UN, she said, is overloaded with access expectations and unable to respond effectively. "There is also a recognition that engagement with the UN does not always have to be through the secretariats, or through global conferences, but should also be through national country offices, regional commissions and the like".
Not yet world citizens
"We're not yet world citizens", said Mehra. And that being the case, NGOs should, wherever possible, put pressure on and work with the governments of their own countries. There were examples of this working in practice, said Mary Marcelis, her fellow panel member. In the Philippines civil society groups had worked closely with elected officials to see that the full implications of meeting the Millennium Development Goals were worked out and costed.
There are, of course, deep and complex questions about the degree to which citizens and non-state actors act internationally and independently from or in defiance of the nation-state from which they come. Some believe that civil society should create new institutions beyond the reach of the nation-state, even a World Parliament (in Globolog's view a good idea for the 23rd Century; but if we must have one now then Mary Robinson should be its president).
How far one should go with such Altermondialism was a lively topic at last week's European Social (ESF) and it's likely to continue to be so at the World Social Forum (WSF) in India in January 2004 (some UN Consultative Panel members will be participating in the WSF).
But hefty chunks of the world are not included in this conversation. Among them, as Globolog noted during last year's ESF, is China. And, as both Jeffrey Garten and The Economist describe, there's a long way to go in the Middle Kingdom. In some other countries [take Saudi Arabia (see, for example Roula Khalaf in the Financial Times, November 17, subscription only) or Mary Kaldor's recent article for openDemocracy on Iraq], the prospects of a constructive role for civil society may seem even more remote, but are no less crucial.