Expanding Citizens’ Rights

International bodies are increasingly recognizing the important role of civil society in developing, implementing and monitoring global public policy. An increased participation by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the UN conferences of the 1990s verifies this, and the UN Secretary General has repeatedly emphasized the importance of consulting with civil society on matters before the UN.

“The WFM International Secretariat continues to be a leader in the UN NGO community”

WFM has been the leader in developing strategic networks of NGOs, dating back to the UN world conferences. More recently WFM helped organize the 1999 Hague Appeal for Peace Conference and currently convenes the Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC). WFM continues to be a leader in the UN NGO community, working with others to uphold arrangements for NGO access, consultation and participation in UN decision-making processes.

In this context, WFM is promoting a resolution that would extend formal consultative rights to NGOs in the General Assembly. This UN General Assembly NGO Resolution was drafted and promoted by the International NGO Task Group on Legal and Institutional Matters (INTGLIM) and endorsed by the Commission on Global Governance, Amnesty International, Greenpeace and many NGOs from both the North and the South. WFM rightfully respects and wishes to protect the integrity of the General Assembly and we maintain that the provision for participation of NGOs should only be consultative. Accordingly, we call for an extension of the modalities of teh UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to limited consultative arrangements for NGOs to the General Assembly including the right for accredited NGOs to attend open meetings, receive documentation and be able to make their reports and written documents available. WFM does not advocate extending the ECOSOC speaking rights nor the privileges to have translation and circulation of written statements, but we do request our right to observe.

“WFM advocates for access to the United Nations for national and regional NGOs and has helped ensure that experts from developing countries are informed of UN processes ”

WFM also advocates for access to the United Nations for national and regional NGOs, and has helped ensure that experts from developing countries are informed of UN processes and brought directly into UN negotiations.

Simultaneously, in recognizing the valuable contributions to their agendas by civil society organizations, international bodies such as the World Bank, the World Economic Forum and the OSCE are increasingly opening up for greater NGO participation in their work. WFM welcomes this development and supports NGOs campaigning for greater involvement.