CAMDUN - Interactive proposals, ideas and activities for democratic strengthening of the UN system of global governance

Interactive proposals, ideas and activities for democratic strengthening of the UN system of global governance

(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

(7) SURVEY 1997 OF UK OPINION ON UN PROPOSAL FOR A CIVIL SOCIETY FORUM LINKED WITH THE UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY
[ civil society ]

UK Support Group* for a World Civil Society Forum
*Elnora Ferguson, Gordon Glass, Jeffrey Segall, Daniel Wheatley, Alison Williams

A Civil Society Forum linked with the UN General Assembly would have to limit the number of delegates from each country, and for it to be effective the delegates would need to be democratically selected and funded by the participating organizations (though delegates from developing countries might be helped by a UN Trust Fund). Would these conditions be acceptable to NGOs and the wider civil society? To answer this question with regard to the UK, this Group carried out a Survey of opinion of defined sectors of civil society by means of a Questionnaire.

THE 1997 SURVEY
Solely for the purpose of the Survey, it was assumed that:

- the Working Group on Strengthening the UN System in its final Report recommends, and the General Assembly approves, the convening of an annual Civil Society Forum linked with the General Assembly;
- as suggested by the Working Group, a "transparent process" is used for choosing a "limited number" of delegates from each member state wishing to participate;
- the maximum number of delegates allowed to each country is six (in the General Assembly each member state may have up to five representatives);
- the delegates are to be chosen by or through UN-accredited Civil Society Associations, whose members are NGOs or other entities of civil society wishing to participate;
- six Sectors of civil society are defined for the purpose of UK representation in the Forum, and each establishes a UN-accredited Civil Society Association which is responsible for organizing its constituents to select (by a "transparent process"), brief and fund a Forum delegate; and subsequently for transmitting the delegate's report on the Forum session to the Association's NGOs or other constituents.

The definitions of the Survey Sectors are:
Sectors 1 - 3. Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)

1. National UN-NGOs and UK-based international UN-NGOs (head or national office), associated with the DPI or in consultative status with ECOSOC or having any other formal link with the UN system. (In 'the real thing', international NGOs might instead be represented separately in an international section of the Forum.)

2. NGOs (national or international) without a formal link with the UN system, which are active in the concerns of the UN's Charter mandate.

3. Members of informal 'one world' groups, members of 'world citizen' registries, and individuals who 'act as well as think globally' (e.g: humanitarian and peace-team volunteers; investors in world development societies).

Sectors 4 - 6. National, non-state, not-for-profit, governance (coordinating, regulating or representational) institutions and other bodies of 'mainstream' civil society, grouped into three Sectors

4. Religious.

5. Academic, educational, professional, the arts and sport.

6. Local administration, voluntary service, funding, economic and media

The Survey Questionnaire
(845 distributed)

1.	Are you answering the questions on behalf of an organisation? Or, as an individual within an organisation? Or, as an individual citizen?	____ ____ ____
		Yes	No	Don't know
2.	Do you favour the convening by the UN of a Civil Society Forum linked with the United Nations General Assembly?	____	____	____
3.	Do you approve of the principle of UN-accredited Associations to represent constituents of defined Sectors of UK civil society in the Forum?	____	____	____
4.	Would you be in favour of participating in the selection of your Sectoral Association's Forum delegate?	____	____	____
5.	Would you be in favour of partcipating in the briefing of your Sectoral Association's Forum delegate?	____	____	____
6.	Would you be in favour of participating in the funding of your Sectoral Association's Forum delegate?	____	____	____
7.	Would you prefer a purely UN-NGO (Sector 1) Forum to a Civil Society Forum?	____	____	____

1997 Survey Results

QUESTIONS		'YES' RESPONSES: NUMBERS (and PERCENTAGES)
No.	SUBJECT	TOTAL	One	Two	Three	Four to Six
		S E C T O R S
2	Civil Society Forum at UN	106 (87.6)	18 (85.7)	72 (86.7)	9 (100)	7 (87.5)
3	Representing Associations	96 (79.3)	16 (76.2)	64 (77.1)	9 (100)	7 (87.5)
4	Selection of delegate	98 (81.0)	16 (76.2)	67 (81.0)	9 (100)	6 (75.0)
5	Briefing of delegate	92 (76.0)	17 (81.0)	60 (72.3)	8 (88.9)	7 (87.5)
6	Funding of delegate	22 (18.2)	6 (28.6)	13 (15.7)	2 (22.2)	1 (12.5)
7	UN-NGO Forum preferred	17 (14.0)	5 (23.8)	10 (12.0)	2 (22.2)	0

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