UN Regeneration for Peace and Equity UNGA-Link Discussion Paper: Towards a United Nations and Peoples
(1) Extract from an article by former UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali
In the Ottawa Citizen, 7 April 2003
“The fact that we are confronted by new problems means there is a need for a drastic change in the UN. We must prepare ourselves for the third generation of international organizations… (This) will not come about by changing the composition of the Security Council, or revolutionizing the operation of the General Assembly, or reinforcing the Economic and Social Council… (It) must be the result of a drastic change in the overall concept. The change needed is to obtain the participation of non-state actors in international affairs… let’s say, big cities, non-governmental organizations, multinational corporations.” (Copyright: Ottawa Citizen, 7 April 2003)
(2) World Campaign for in-depth Reform of the System of International Relations
This campaign was launched in June 2003 by Ubuntu, which is led by Federico Mayor (former Director-General of UNESCO). The campaign is in line with Dr Boutros-Ghali’s thinking, but the latter concludes his Ottawa Citizen’s article as follows: “… perhaps this is the beginning of a process of change, and it will take 20 or 30 years until this change is integrated into the system.”
Moreover, we have to take into account that from 1945 onwards the UN has rejected calls for a UN Parliamentary or a Second (Civil Society) Assembly and even for a World Civil Society Forum. (A chronology of 27 such calls is available from Campaign for a More Democratic UN [CAMDUN] – http://www.camdun-online.gn.apc.org)/.
(3) A World Civil Society Union with Observer Status at the UN General Assembly
A first step in the “participation of non-state actors in international affairs” occurred in November 2002 when the Inter-Parliamentary Union [IPU], which is an NGO in consultative status with ECOSOC, was granted observer status at the General Assembly [GA] with the right to circulate its official documents to the member-states.
Civil society should take the next step. The World Civil Society Forum [WCSF] in Geneva in June 2002 incorporated in its recommendations of UNGA-Link UK for an observer presence at the GA to be sought by a World Civil Society Liaison Body, which would be composed of international civil society organizations [CSOs] with a capacity to function as “representing associations” (Boutros Boutros-Ghali’s term) such as: WCSF, Ubuntu, Association of World Citizens/ World Citizens Assembly, CIVICUS, CONGO, Forum for World Peace, Millennium/Global Peoples’ Assembly, Montreal International Forum, The People’s UN, World Federalist Movement, WFUNA, World Social Forum.
UNGA-Link UK proposes (2003) that, in parallel with the IPU, the “Liaison Body” should be named “World Civil Society Union”. The Union could require an independent regulatory board to ensure best practices of its constituent representing associations and thus to justify its observer status at the GA. UNGA-Link sent this proposal as part of our submission to the UN’s High-Level Panel on Relations with Civil Society during the consultation period which ended in December 2003. We invite other advocacy CSOs on global governance issues to support our proposal. The panel’s website ( www.un.org/reform/panel.htm )may indicate if it is among the “practical recommendations” in the report they will be presenting to the Secretary-General in April.
January 2004.