• (1) UN draft proposal for a Civil Society Forum linked with the General Assembly
• (2) Qs and As on a Civil Society Forum
• (3) A UN Citizens' Assembly
• (4) Action for UN Renewal
• (5) Initiative for a New Zealand Forum for UN Renewal
• (6) Inaugural Meeting, March 1997, of New Zealand's Forum for UN Renewal
• (7) Survey of UK opinion on a Civil Society Forum linked with the General Assembly

In 1995-6 there was a strong possibility a strong possibility that the United Nations will offer to establish a Forum to link civil society worldwide with the General Assembly. The purpose of this contribution is to address some of the questions which the proposal raises:

Have the governments approved the principle? Not yet, but it is in line with their general policy as stated in the following paragraph of their 1995 UN Declaration:

"We recognize that our common work will be more successful if it is supported by all concerned actors in the international community, including non-governmental organizations [NGOs], multilateral financial institutions, regional organizations and all actors of civil society. We will welcome and facilitate such support, as appropriate"(1).

What UN body has on its agenda the proposal for a Civil Society Forum linked with the General Assembly and what principles have emerged? The General Assembly's Working Group on Strengthening the United Nations System, which is a high-level Group open to all Member States, refers to the Forum in an Annex to an interim Report of 26 July 1996, from which the following is excerpted:

"The question of giving practical effect to links between Civil Society and the General Assembly needs further discussion.... consideration might be given as a first step to requesting the Secretary-General to convene a Civil Society Forum, which would be an informal gathering....NGOs from each member state might nominate a limited number of participants. NGOs would be encouraged to establish a transparent process for nominating these participants and would inform the Secretary-General of the processes utilised. A Trust Fund could be established for funding NGO representatives from developing countries...." (2).

What was the view of the UN Secretary-General at that time on the Working Group's suggestion that consideration be given to a Civil Society Forum?
"This is a bold and imaginative proposal."(3)

What input has the Working Group reviewed? "...Studies and reports of the relevant United Nations bodies and submissions of Member States and observers, as well as studies and reports of independent commissions, non-governmental organizations, institutions, scholars and other experts..." (4) These include the Report of the Commission on Global Governance, which specifically recommends a Forum of Civil Society linked with the General Assembly. (5)

Is there further progress? Yes. On 17 December 1996, the General Assembly approved the establishment by the Working Group of a Subgroup "on the participation of NGOs in all areas of work of the United Nations". This implicitly includes the proposed Civil Society Forum.

How many NGOs are there? There are currently about 1500 NGOs associated with the UN's Department of Public Information (DPI), and about the same number which have consultative status with the UN's Economic and Social Council. There are also NGOs with other formal UN links, and many other voluntary organizations active in the same areas of work which do not have a formal link with the UN system. Former Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali stated that there are a total of about 12,000 NGOs with which the UN could be linked. (3)

How could a Civil Society Forum link 12,000 NGOs with the General Assembly? Dr Boutros-Ghali's suggestion was that NGOs could create representing Associations. (3) From which entities of 'civil society' apart from NGOs might the UN want support or cooperation? The DPI lists eight major ones: religious, academia, local government, business, trade unions, professional associations, media and indigenous. (6)

How could interested organizations of such entities be represented in the Forum? Similarly, by creating representing Sectoral Associations, each for one or more entities.

Why does the UN need stronger links with civil society? Increasing globalization has made governments and inter-governmental organizations, including the UN, more dependent on the private sector and NGOs for global governance (7,8). "We should bring the Organization closer to the people", said Kofi Annan after being appointed Secretary-General, having defined the mission of the UN as "the triangle of development, freedom and peace". (9) General Assembly President Razali Ismail, in his inaugural address, stated:

"The participation of civil-society actors in the UN may mitigate power politics...Their involvement will not erode the intergovernmental process. On the contrary, it will strengthen it." (10)

Why should civil society respond? Partly because increasing globalization can stimulate a transnational extension of the sense of responsibility of citizenship, and partly in self-interest to counteract downside effects of globalization. (7,8) What would be the status of the Civil Society Forum? The Working Group suggested that it would be an informal body as a first step, linking civil society with the UN General Assembly (2).

How influential could the Forum become? This would depend on the strength of its roots with civil society. In the long-term, if it proved its value and could be deemed to be representative of civil society, it might evolve into a UN 'second house', (11) linked formally with the General Assembly as a subsidiary organ. (12) This evolutionary concept is shared by the World Commission on Culture and Development:

"a two-chamber General Assembly could be considered, one with government representatives as at present, and the other representing national civil society organizations...[This] is only a vision for the future at this stage... As a first step in this direction, the Commission recommends that representatives of non-governmental bodies accredited to the General Assembly as Civil Society organizations be grouped into a World Forum..." (13)

1. Governments' Declaration on the Occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the United Nations, 24 October 1995. 2. Annex II (WGUNS/CRP.12) of the Report of the Open-Ended High-Level Working Group on the Strengthening of the United Nations System (A/50/24), July 1996. 3. Boutros Boutros-Ghali. Address, and responses to questions, 49th Annual DPI/NGO Conference, September 1996. 4. UN DPI Background Paper: Update on the Work of the Open-Ended Working Groups of the General Assembly, January 1996. 5. Report of the Commission on Global Governance. Our Global Neighbourhood, 1995: pp 258-260 and 278. 6. Questionnaire for Participants of the 49th Annual DPI/NGO Conference, September 1996. 7. United Nations Research Institute for Social Development. States of Disarray: The Social Effects of Globalization, Chapter 11, Global Citizenship: a New Basis for International Solidarity, 1995. 8. United Nations Research Institute for Social Development. Background Paper: Globalization and Citizenship, 1996. 9. Kofi Annan. Secretary-General's acceptance address to General Assembly (January 1997). 10. Razali Ismail. President's inaugural address to General Assembly (September 1996). 11. J. Segall. Letter to The Guardian, 27 February 1982. 12. Oral opinion given to author by UN Office of Legal Affairs, June 1982: The General Assembly could establish a representative 'Second Assembly' as a subsidiary organ under Artilcle 22 of the Charter, whereas a purely NGO Assembly could not qualify for this status. 13. J. Perez de Cuellar et al. Report of the World Commission on Culture and Development. Our Creative Diversity, 2nd edition, 1996: pp 285-287.