November 21st, 2006 - Millennium Plaza Hotel (across the street from the UN Headquarters)

During my time working around the UN there has been a constant debate on how civil society can and should be involved and have access to UN decision-making processes. There have been many previous reports and recommendations on this issue, among them the Cardoso Report, but the debate is ongoing. Civil society is obviously always pushing for more access, arguing it brings expertise, accountability and urgency to the processes. Governments argue the UN is a forum where governments make decisions and that the number and diversity of civil society organizations is too large to handle.

Under this context, the General Assembly President organized a meeting where civil society representatives in New York met with UN officials and governments to discuss how the relationship can improve. A number of NGOs had gone together and prepared a statement outlining their recommendations. The most interesting ones were:

• Appointment of an NGO Focal Point for the UN system - Today there exists a number of NGO Focal Points within the UN system, often one for each department and agency, and with each comes a different registration process and different procedures for engagement. It can be very confusing for NGOs to figure out how it is possible to get involved, especially for young people engaging with the UN for the first time. One focal point and one office that NGOs can contact, along with uniform registration procedures, will make life a lot easier for many NGOs.
• Establishment of a trust fund for Southern NGOs - Participation at the UN remains dominated by Northern NGOs or northern representatives of International NGOs. The travel costs for Southern NGOs to come to New York are often too great for organizations already struggling with little resources. A trust fund dedicated to increasing southern participation would of course be most helpful. However, such a fund does already exist for bringing youth delegates to the UN, and it has been painfully empty. There are also visa restrictions - especially young people from Africa can be stopped at the US embassy even with funding and approval letters from the UN.
• Virtual representation and regional engagement - One of the more interesting and relevant recommendations for young people is the use of technology and virtual representation. Video conferencing could enable young people to participate from their home countries. Although not ideal, it would solve the funding and visa problems that stops many youung people from participating. Another recommendation is to engage civil society more in the regional processes and in the work of the UN country offices. Although this is currently happening in many countries there is a lot of potential for bigger involvement, and it would also be more relevant to those participating.Other recommendations included to improve the the way civil society hearings are organized, to improve the actual physical space for civil society when the UN building is eventually upgraded, and to grant more funding and responsibility to the UN Non-Governmental Liaison Service.
  
  The recommendation that received the most applauce, though, was regarding the entrance for civil society to the UN building. Currently we have to walk through the visitor's entrance, along with tourists and through a security screening, while government delegates and UN staff can go through more accessible entrances. I couldn't believe that after the whole debate on improving civil society access, this was what seemed to be the biggest concern. It's a minor issue that would perhaps save 5 minutes when entering the UN building, but would do nothing to further substantiate our participation.
  
  There was not much said about youth until Emily Freeburg of the NGO Committee on Youth stood up and spoke about the contributions young people can make to the UN, and the specific challenges young people have when trying to participate. Certainly the UN can improve the conditions for young people, including funding, training, and recognition as key stakeholders.The potential of technology and the knowledge and innovation of young people to utilize it is also certainly worth exploring.
  
  The UN is trying to improve its relations with civil society, but the way the system works right now it will take a while. Civil society can continue to advocate and lobby as we have been doing for the past years, repeating the same thing over and over until eventually someone hopefully listens, or perhaps a new way of thinking is required?

The International Forum on the Eradication of Poverty, which opened on November 15, 2006, was devoted to the review of the first United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty. Agreed upon at the 1995 World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen, and formally launched at the fiftieth session of the General Assembly, the Decade pursued the goal of eradicating absolute poverty and reducing overall poverty, through decisive national actions and international cooperation among international organizations, governments and Civil Society. The NGO community and the academic community were widely represented at the conference but unfortunately there was a dramatic absence of official diplomats and people from the business world.

The panelists’ presentations were really interesting and relevant, mostly without complacence for the United Nations which was criticized for the lack of action on simple solutions that have been proven effective, and instead focusing on complex and indirect ways of eradicating poverty. Maybe that explains the absence of the UN diplomats…

Ms Wahu Kaara, representing African women, delivered a vibrant and passionate speech urging the UN to wake up and to embrace its responsibility to face the challenges of the world before it is too late. She encouraged the people to take action outside the box and to find alternative strategies to eradicate poverty. According to her, poverty is not only a question of wealth but also a question of freedom. She said “poverty is when you cannot make your own decisions concerning your own daily life”. Given that, poverty is a matter of domination and control over the people who are maintained in an unequal relationship. Children and women suffer from a double alienation, which makes the burden of poverty heavier on their shoulders. As human beings they suffer from the global poverty depriving them of a decent life, but they also suffer a second alienation as “minors” in the society and family system depriving them of their most basic Human Rights and freedom. The actual capitalist system and its institutions are made to maintain the gap between rich and poor, between people over-consuming and others dying of under-consumption. She reminded us that the money needed to save all the people from hunger, a few billion dollars a year, equals the money that people in the West spend on food for their pets. Poverty cannot be only defined any longer as a purely economic issue but we also need to recognize it as a social and historical product. We want to make poverty history but we should admit that history also made poverty.

Concerning the social and economic progresses during the last decade, the presentation of Mr Roberto Bissio, Executive Director of Third World Institute, was the clearest and the most complete. According to him, one of the most worrying parts of the problem was that progress on many indicators had actually slowed down in the past decade. The Millennium Development Goals were based on the 70’s and 80’s economic rhythm, but the speed of progress had declined in the 90’s making it difficult to achieve the MDGs even if they were not really ambitious. The rhythm of social improvement has been declining over the last decade and we are assisting to a destruction of the social system dues to the globalization of the economy, he also said. Since 1990, the world has witnessed elimination of barriers to investment and creation of new rights for corporations, without commensurate rights for the people in developing countries. He also raised the issue of non-compliance by the rich countries of all the promises they had made, which related to increased aid, creation of fair trade conditions and solution to the debt problem of the poor nations. While debt relief had been announced this year for some of the most heavily indebted countries, those measures had yet to be put into practice…

To conclude with more hope, we should recognize the progresses made by the non-profit business sector such as the great initiative of the One laptop per child initiated by Nicholas Negroponte. Lot of panelists have highly praised the huge progresses against poverty made by the micro-credit initiative, invented by Mohammad Yunus the actual Nobel Prize for peace. Yunus received an award at the UN last week and his work will be the topic of a coming article.

We should keep fighting to make poverty history and to design a new world society led by equity and justice for all. All these devoted persons show us the right example and pave the way for a better future. Don’t Give Up the Fight my friends.

Benjamin Sourice
GYAN Intern

The United Nations, 8-20 October 2006

Asociación Cultura de Paz and < a href=http://www.unoy.org/> the United Network of Young Peacebuilders (UNOY) organized a two-week lobbying program at the UN for the Culture of Peace with a team of young people from all around the world.

The Culture of Peace is a “set of values, attitudes, modes of behaviour and ways of life that reject violence and prevent conflicts by tackling their root causes. It aims to solve problems through dialogue and negotiation among individuals, groups and nations” (UN Resolutions A/RES/52/13: Culture of Peace and A/RES/53/243: Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace).

The Culture of peace can be achieved through the implementation of 8 key points which are:

• foster a culture of peace through education
• promote sustainable economic and social development
• promote respect for all human rights
• ensure equality between women and men
• foster democratic participation
• advance understanding, tolerance and solidarity
• support participatory communication and the free flow of information and knowledge
• promote international peace and security

Benjamin Sourice, an intern with GYAN, participated in the team which advocated for the involvement of young people in the peace-building policies within the United Nations, but also for a better peace education and non-violence culture. It was a really interesting opportunity to discover the small world of the UN and the diplomatic mechanisms. The team managed to visit more than 60 missions and met several youth delegates but also international organizations such as The Alliance for Civilizations which showed a great interest in our multicultural team. This unique experience taught us that youth have a great role to play into the UN policy-building and that their representation has to be fostered to make them key partners.

Benjamin Sourice
GYAN intern

United Nations Headquarters, November 9 - 2006


“The true measure of the success for the United Nations is not how much we promise, but how much we deliver for those who need us most.” - Ban Ki-moon in his acceptance speech to the General Assembly.

These last years an urgent need for UN reform has been raised to strengthen its impact and to overcome the fragmentation of the UN system. A high level panel, consisting of the prime ministers of Pakistan, Mozambique and Norway, was set up to find solutions to help the United Nations bring more coherence in its policy and to deliver as one. GYAN attended a meeting where the report of the panel was presented to Civil Society.

The panel started with going through the UN system’s weaknesses, principally a “lack of focus on results” and an inability to deliver on its promises. They also pointed out that “inefficient and ineffective governance and unpredictable funding have contributed to policy incoherence, duplication and operational ineffectiveness across the system.”

From these criticisms they built up a core of clear recommendations to establish a new UN strategy and new governance, managerial and funding mechanisms to empower the UN. They recommended “the establishment of One UN at the country level, with one leader, one programme and one budget” which should be developed in partnership with the country in line with its own national priorities. They advocated for a stronger coordination between the UN, national governments and also a better inclusion of the NGOs in the implementation of the development policies at the local level.

Finally they recommended strengthening the action of the UN on the Millennium Development Goals and the protection of the environment which are the very challenges the world has to face nowadays. They recommended the establishment of a UN Development Coordinator and also that the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) should be upgraded and have real authority as the environmental pillar of the UN system.

The UN is going through a real ambitious reform to overcome its weaknesses and to bring coherence into its work. They want the Civil Society to be a key actor in the implementation of this new policy. The UN is willing to deliver as one to improve its results, but is the Civil Society willing to be less divided between the different fields of action? Many NGOs push for particular actions in their specific fields of involvement, creating divisions within Civil Society. As the One-UN idea, it is time for all NGOs to work together to be a coherent partner for all policy makers and to work for real effective results. Network organizations, such as GYAN, are a good way to bring unity and credibility as well as coherence. We all share the same dream to make a better world, but we all have our own ideas on how to make it better. Isn’t unity the very first goal to be achieved before we face the bigger ones?

Benjamin Sourice.
Intern at GYAN New York