Introduction to International Democracy

Primacy of the UN General Assembly

Security Council Reform

Strengthening the UN Economic and Social Council

Selection of high-level officials for international institutions

UN Parliamentary Assembly

Expanding Citizens’ Rights

Accountability and Transparency

International processes for democracy

Implementation of UN Conferences and Summits of the 1990s

ReformtheUN.org

Accountability and Transparency

WFM welcomes effors to implement the principles of transparency, accountability and representativity in global democracy. WFM supports the work of Associated Organization One World Trust in their launch of the “Global Accountability Report.” (PDF) The report was designed as an assessment tool that can be used to measure and compare the transparency and openness of any international, national, or local institution, including inter-governmental organizations, transnational corporations, and international non-governmental organizations.

Transparency and access to information is a critical component of democracy. WFM has actively advocated for greater UN transparency and accountability by calling for the UN to make all UN documents and reports available on the Internet through its Official Documents System (ODS).The ODS database contains all UN documents in the six official languages of the UN. Through many years of advocacy, WFM, in close cooperation with many other NGOs, secured government support for free NGO access to the database. In December 2003, the free access for NGOs became a reality when the General Assembly Fifth Committee on administrative and budgetary matters approved funds for the purchase of necessary computer hardware to enable NGO access. The final implementation of universal access for NGOs was implemented in December 2004 and is now available online.

WFM sees this as an important step in the process of making the UN more transparent and advancing democratic principles in global governance. It signals a commitment by the UN to share information more effectively and equitably, enabling a greater participation by the world community in the UN and international affairs.

We believe that this tool will improve the NGO community’s possibilities to follow the UN processes and simultaneously enable NGOs to provide appropriate and qualified expertise and contributions to these processes.