Unga-Link UK Interactive

Nevertheless Jeffrey and his wife Elizabeth inspired and encouraged us to consolidate UNGA-Link in Britain and to set up the WCSF UK Support Group.  We circulated hundreds of NGOs in Britain and with the help of two interns organised a conference at City University to promote the idea and to develop interest in a second World Civil Society Forum which we hoped would be held in 2004 or 2005.  Alas the organisation and enthusiasm in Geneva faded as the Swiss government withdrew its financial commitment and NGO opposition in Geneva made life difficult for Sebastian Ziegler who was the main driving force.    A forum with status at the UN was and is a good idea for which Jeffrey Segall punched well above his weight, in all senses of the term. It was before its time but its time will surely come. When it does Jeffrey’s name should be carved on the base as one of the founders.  

Colin Archer (Secretary-General, International Peace Bureau, Geneva)  … Jeff was indeed a firm supporter of IPB - indeed one of those who actually paid his fees on a regular basis!   I am sorry to hear he has gone. He was nothing if not dedicated in his determination to see a better and restructured UN. Sad he didn’t live to see much progress in that area…Sam Daws (Executive Director, UNA-UK)…Jeffrey has been such a dedicated supporter of the UN and UNA-UK, and a passionate advocate of reform to strengthen the Organisation. 

Wilfrid Grenville-Grey (UNGA-Link’s New York Representative, 1998-2005)… I was a huge admirer of Jeff. I never met anyone at  the UN- over 15 years- who could match him for creative ideas about the future of the UN.   He inspired me just when I was about to drown in bureaucratic sludge. Victoria Haines (WCSF-UK Support Group) … He was a very strong, determined and inspiring person indeed.  

Alison Harvey (Community Networks International, Christian Fellowship Trust)… I would love to know much more about Jeff, his family and life experiences and how this little man with stern but twinkling eyes and a global vision could have achieved so much. What I do know, and had confirmed just last week, is that big changes come from those who do not search for fame or superficial recognition ( usually encouraging others - who then take the credit) who in the end have the biggest impact and reflect the ‘ accumulated wisdom of the great movements of history”  (Report commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, 2004)Bruce Kent (Vice President of CND and of Pax Christi; Contact for the Movement for the Abolition of War)“I miss Jeffrey Segall very much.   Determined, kindly and cheerful he was a welcome presence at all meetings. He was always ready to press his sensible conviction that the citizen voices must be heard in UN decision-making circles.’ Karin Leonhardt (Parliamentary Assembly, Western European Union , retired; Paris)She remembers meeting Jeff and Elizabeth in Geneva several times.  “I have thought of them very often, both of them were very active and I remember them sending relevant information every day to their ‘headquarters’”.

Barbara Panvel (Coordinator, New Era Network)… He and his like-minded wife, Elizabeth were supportive and of help to me on several occasions… (Barbara recalls advice Jeff had given her when she was doing research on non-lethal weaponry.  On another occasion, “a buoyant and visionary suggestion in a message from Jeffrey Segall” had given her an answer to the question how the cause of Defensive Defence might be advanced: why not get civil society to press states with a proven commitment to peace to hold a “Change the World” conference with maximum publicity?    Humanity might then find the road that leads to the non-violent resolution of disputes.) Patsy Robertson (Commission for Global Governance, Commonwealth Secretariat) … I am deeply saddened (to hear of Jeffrey’s death) as we worked together in the nineties on United Nations matters. ..  

Laurie Salas (National Council of UNA-New Zealand), … I met Jeff and Elizabeth in New York some years ago, at a CAMDUN conference.   I always admired and respected Jeff’s stalwart work for peace as I came to know him over the years, in London, Geneva and the US.  His unfailing courage and outspokenness for a just and peaceful world was an inspiration to all who knew him, and he will be remembered with affection and admiration by many, many people for his integrity and example, and his spoken and written words.   We grieve with you all. Keith Suter (International Law Association, Australian Branch; Convenor of CAMDUN, Australia)I am very sorry to hear about Jeffrey.  I knew him for almost four decades… (They worked together on the INFUSA /CAMDUN projects in particular, but lost touch when Jeff dropped out of action after Elizabeth’s death.) 

Rene Wadlow (Representative to the UN, Geneva, Association of World Citizens)… (Jeffrey’s) was a long and dedicated life. We had occasion to be together in a number of conferences both in Geneva and in the USA. He had great energy of his convictions and his efforts for peace. David Wardrop (Chair, Westminster UNA)Jeff Segall worked uncompromisingly for the real voice of ’we the peoples’ to be heard and for it to participate in international decision-making.  With what courage and energy he spoke, in good health or in bad, never doubting his cause. 

Daniel Wheatley (Government Relations Officer, UK Baha’i Community, Deputy Chair UNGA-Link 98-99)… (Jeffrey) was a tireless campaigner for global democracy and a wonderful man.   Sebastien Ziegler (Director, Mandat International, Geneva; Chair, World Civil Society Forum, 2002)… Jeffrey has given a strong light and vision for the WCSF, and the UK group has certainly been one of the most active. We all hope that his vision will become reality. The Council of Europe has already made some steps in this direction…  Susan J Zipp (Co-Chair Global Peoples Assembly, San Francisco; President, UNA-San Francisco)Dr. Jeffrey Segall was a dear friend… dedicated to health and humanism. (She sent her e-mail list details of Jeffrey’s work for peace and concluded her message “With compassion, Sue.”)

Jeffrey J Segall, 1924 – 2010  

Jeffrey Segall was a champion of world peace through a democratically reformed United Nations.  Specifically, he was convinced that peace would be possible only when “We, the peoples” have an established place within the UN system alongside our governments.   

He came to his passion for peace from a background in medicine and left-wing politics.  He was a member of the Communist Party in his youth, giving up membership in 1956 when Soviet forces invaded Hungary but remaining a Fellow Traveller until Russian tanks rolled into Prague in 1968. 

Born and raised in London, he studied at University College and their Hospital Medical School and qualified to practise medicine in 1947.   From 1954-89 he was a family doctor, the senior partner in the practice from 1966-1989.  At the same time he pursued research in respiratory medicine and clinical physiology.  He also made a major investigation of the possibility that lactose, the sugar in milk, is an independent risk factor for coronary heart disease.  The Lancet, the BMJ and other peer-reviewed journals published his articles and letters on that subject over the years from 1977 to 2003.   He did some teaching as well, sometimes to medical students, sometimes to his peers.   

He combined his concerns for medicine and peace as a member of the Executive Committee of the Medical Association for Prevention of War/MAPW (1976-1991) and editor of the MAPW journal (1980-1984).  In 1985 he founded the quarterly journal Medicine and War and edited it until 1991.  MAPW merged with another medical campaign in 1992 to form MEDACT, and the house journal changed its name to Medicine, Conflict and Survival.  MEDACT is the UK affiliate of a global organisation of health professionals, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War/ IPPNW.  This experience of professional NGOs working at national and international levels naturally informed his thinking on how “the peoples” could be represented at the UN. 

His strong commitment to UN reform followed his visit to New York in 1978 for the UN General Assembly’s first Special Session on Disarmament/ SSD1.  The final document of that conference was described by another peace champion, Philip Noel-Baker, as “the greatest state paper of all time”.  Specific measures to “mobilise world public opinion on behalf of disarmament” included commitment by governments to give it special publicity, and a call for “closer liaison” between the UN and NGOs concerned with disarmament.  High hopes were soon followed by frustration and disappointment. For the rest of his active life, Jeffrey Segall’s work for peace centred on the challenge of how to achieve “closer liaison” between the UN and not only disarmament NGOs but civil society at large.                                                                                                               He proposed and led a succession of initiatives, some in partnership with an American medical doctor, Harry Lerner.   First came the International Network for a UN Second Assembly/ INFUSA, then CAMDUN (at first Conferences for a More Democratic UN, later  Campaign for…).  A proposal in the Global Governance Commission’s report Our Global Neighbourhood in 1995 led him to organise a survey testing support for a World Civil Society Forum/WCSF and to set up another project in 1998, UNGA-Link UK: in full, the UK Network for a Civil Society Link with the UN General Assembly.  

 He was determined and pragmatic, keeping up with all relevant developments at the UN and using the current language in hopes of convincing others of what was so plain to him.  A clear example is the decision to promote a World Civil Society Union/WCSU instead of a Forum after the UN General Assembly granted Observer Status to the Inter-Parliamentary Union/IPU in November 2002.   The IPU is a non-governmental body representing members of parliament who choose to join it, and Jeffrey argued that it offered a precedent for a body to represent global civil society as well.He understood the term “civil society” in its very broadest sense, to include international NGOs at one end through to community-based organisations at the other.  The Conference of NGOs/ CONGO, which represents the organisations granted Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council through Article 71 of the UN Charter, did not meet Jeffrey’s criteria as a voice for global civil society.  He didn’t like the fact that it was based in New York: he always felt that Geneva was more open to a variety of voices.  Above all, he didn’t like CONGO’s top-down method of working, like that of the UN itself.   

The years of INFUSA gathered supporters in Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia, Africa and India.  In 1988 and 1989, 8 Network Convenors led by Jeffrey in the UK and Harry Lerner in New York, asked the UN General Assembly to consider the Second Assembly proposal, and to support the call for an international conference to consider ways and means.  Their appeal was backed by an impressive list of local, national and international organisations.  Most heartening support from a world leader came in December 1988, when Mikhail Gorbachev said to the UN General Assembly, “The idea of democratising the entire world order has become a powerful political force… the idea of convening on a regular basis, under the auspices of the United Nations, an assembly of public organisations, deserves attention.” 

By 1990, encouraged by growing support and a more positive international climate, it was decided to organise a series of conferences on the broad theme, “Building a More Democratic United Nations”.  INFUSA had created CAMDUN.  Proceedings of the first conference, held in New York in 1990, were edited by Frank Barnaby and published the following year.  Five conferences had been held by 1995, and in 1999 the UNDP’s Human Development Report included the recommendation for “a broader UN system, including a two-chamber General Assembly to allow for civil society representation”.  The idea seemed to be catching on in high places. 

The first big push for UNGA-Link UK was the World Civil Society Forum which took place in Geneva in July 2002.  It was impressive in scale, with over 300 panellists from many countries and some 200 diverse activities. Former UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali gave the keynote address at the opening.   But momentum was not maintained for a variety of reasons, among them the unwillingness of NGOs who already enjoyed privileges within the UN system to support an alternative arrangement which might be less favourable.  The reluctance of the mass of Civil Society Organisations to respond to Jeffrey’s arguments was a further source of frustration and disappointment for him.  Governments and Civil Society alike didn’t get his message – or not enough of them. 

He remained Chair of UNGA-Link UK until 2004 and was its Honorary Consultant thereafter.  In December 2003, UNGA-Link was granted Associate Status with the UN Department of Public Information/DPI and with that had the duty to publicise the work of the UN through its newsletter and meetings.  Information still flows in from the DPI although UNGA-Link ceased to qualify for the DPI affiliation in 2007 when it became a voluntary network within UNA-UK. 

For nearly 50 years, Jeffrey was supported in all his work by his wife Elizabeth and her death in December 2004 was a blow from which he never recovered.  He died on the 22^nd of May 2010 after a long period of illness and is survived by a son and three granddaughters.  

Decisive progress for democratic global governance did not happen in Jeffrey’s lifetime.  UNGA-Link UK continues with a basic website which should be upgraded this year.  Like Jeffrey himself, the supporters he inspired and informed know we’re in the struggle for peace for as long as it takes. 

Alison Williams (Coordinator, UNGA-Link UK)