Global Policy Forum

By James A. Paul

In a relatively short time, the NGO Working Group on the Security Council has become an influential forum at the United Nations. When it was founded in 1995, no one imagined that an NGO body could have an influential voice on Council-related issues. Powerful Permanent Members, it was assumed, would definitively block such an initiative. Just six years later, the Working Group has won significant influence on UN peace and security policy. Though completely informal and enjoying no official status, the Working Group meets regularly with ambassadors of virtually all Council-member delegations.

The Working Group evolved through several phases. At first it aimed at influencing Council reform and it sought to gather a large number of NGOs under its banner. Later, it organized a "dialogue" between Council members and NGOs, operating with just thirty influential members.

This history considers the Working Group's development, as it gained increasingly-close access to the Council. The NGOs in the Working Group brought a new set of values to the Council environment at a time when the Council was an especially closed and secretive body. The NGOs lobbied for accountability and openness and they spoke in favor of human rights and humanitarian standards. At times, Council members listened and policies changed for the better, a considerable achievement. The Council still remains an institution of unaccountable Great Power interests and realpolitik, but the Working Group continues to advocate different standards of action, in the interests of a wider humanity.

Council Reform Phase (1994-95)

In 1994, the United Nations General Assembly started negotiations to reform the Security Council. NGOs based in New York and Geneva decided to get involved. They organized a conference on Council reform in New York on May 23, 1994. General Assembly President Samuel Insanally gave the keynote speech. Other speakers included three ambassadors and well-known personalities from academia, the media and the international NGO community. The conference was very well attended and generated wide interest. Later in 1994, several NGOs published analytical papers on Council reform.

Early in 1995, Jim Paul of Global Policy Forum assembled a small group of NGOs in New York to organize an "NGO Working Group on the Security Council." The founders included Amnesty International, Earth Action, the Lawyers Committee for Nuclear Policy, the World Council of Churches and the World Federalist Movement. The new Working Group was conceived as a forum to discuss Council reform. It was agreed that Paul would serve as Chair and that Global Policy Forum would organize the Group's activities.

The Group in this phase sought to attract as many NGO members as possible and it envisaged holding large public meetings. During 1995, it held two public meetings of this type, but it also organized several private meetings with delegates to seek advice and support. Ambassadors Razali Ismail of Malaysia and Colin Keating of New Zealand - both recent Council members - especially encouraged the group during this phase.

Small delegations of Group members met with the co-chairmen of the General Assembly Working Group on Council Reform and with Youseffou Bamba, chief of staff of Amra Essy, President of the General Assembly. In January 1996, Assembly President Diogo Freitas do Amaral gave an important speech on Council reform to a large public meeting organized by the Working Group.

Shift to Dialogue with Council Members - Early Efforts (1996)

As General Assembly Council reform negotiations froze, friendly diplomats suggested that the Working Group shift its focus. Beginning in early 1996, the Group decided to organize dialogues between NGOs and Council members, while not entirely abandoning reform questions. The Working Group approached Ambassador Juan Somavia of Chile, who had just joined the Council. He expressed strong interest and he eventually agreed to speak to a public NGO meeting during his presidency of the Council in April.

In May, the Working Group organized another public meeting with Council Ambassador Nabil Elaraby of Egypt. Later in the year, in early November, the Working Group organized a meeting with several delegations to discuss the annual report of the Council to the General Assembly. This latter meeting was convened with the quiet backing of Ambassador Razali, then serving as General Assembly President. It foreshadowed the future format of the Working Group, because the leadership of the Working Group only invited a select group of NGO representatives -- those with special interest and expertise on the Council. Twelve delegates, including four ambassadors, attended this event, along with nineteen NGO representatives. All agreed it was a great achievement.

Taking inspiration from that success, Working Group Chair Jim Paul wrote a letter to incoming Council President Paolo Fulci of Italy in late November, proposing that Council Presidents provide a regular briefing each month to NGOs. The Council took this proposal very seriously and discussed it immediately. In spite of strong advocacy by NGO-friendly delegations, the Council decided that the president should never meet officially with NGOs. As a compromise, the Council agreed that delegates could meet NGOs in their national capacity to report on their views of the work of the Council. At the insistence of some Permanent Members, it was agreed that Council presidents would not meet with NGOs, even in their national capacity.

Ambassador Fulci summoned Paul and announced the outcome. He expressed his own regret that the Council had not gone further, proposing that he meet with the Working Group as soon as his presidency was over, to establish the new possibilities opened up by the compromise decision. Subsequently, Paul and the Working Group leadership decided that a limited-member "Consultation Group" should be formed to seek regular meetings with outgoing or incoming Council presidents. They felt that only a group of well-respected agencies, with a clear interest in the Council and an expert representative, could command the attention and time of busy Council ambassadors.

With Support from the Portugese the Dialogue Takes Off (1997-98)

Ambassador Fulci met with the Consultation Group in January 1997 in the first of this new series. Paul met privately with other ambassadors to explain the process and persuade them to meet with the group. The Swedish Ambassador agreed, but others were less forthcoming.

In early April, Paul met with Ambassador Antonio Monteiro of Portugal, who was just beginning his term as Council President. Monteiro expressed his great enthusiasm for the NGO effort and promised his solid backing. Counsellor Ana Gomes of Portugal, another strong supporter of the NGO effort, soon offered to give the Working Group regular briefings. The first of this series took place in May, as Gomes provided a report on the Portugese presidency. In the following months, Gomes continued to provide informative briefings, while she and the ambassador persuaded other Permanent Representatives to meet with the Working Group. The Working Group started to meet with delegates about twice each month, once with the outgoing president and once with Gomes or another delegate. This structure of regular meetings -- or "briefings" as they were often called - set the form for the Working Group (WG) in its later evolution.

The meetings typically lasted for an hour and a half, beginning with a statement by the delegate and followed by a question-and-answer period. The NGOs were learning about the Council in this phase and their advocacy role was limited. But some sessions were very lively, particularly those with Gomes, who clearly enjoyed the process.

In early September of 1997, Ambassador Monteiro met with Ambassador Bill Richardson of the United States at the beginning of the US Council presidency. Monteiro mentioned to Richardson that he was meeting later in the day with the WG and encouraged Richardson to meet with the group himself. Richardson immediately arranged a breakfast meeting with the group -- during his presidency. He thus partly overturned the understanding that the Council had reached less than a year before. Richardson met the NGOs not as president but as US ambassador ("in his national capacity"), but his gesture proved an important breakthrough. It opened the way for other delegates to follow suit, as Ambassador Somavia did during his presidency the following month (October). A precedent had been set.

During 1998, with further help from the Portugese, the WG met increasingly frequently and enlarged the number of delegations it met, including even the hesitant Chinese. The ambassadors of Portugal, Sweden and Slovenia hosted lunches for the WG during their presidencies, signaling unprecedented support. Informal NGO contacts with delegations grew more routine as NGO members of the WG reached a far higher level of expertise on the inner workings of the Council - a body that functioned mostly in private, behind closed doors. Though the WG had established its closest relations with the Council's elected ("non-permanent") members, it also met and developed cordial relations with all five permanent members as well.

In 1998 it became clear that the "Consultation Group" was synonymous with the Working Group. The Group decided that it must formalize its procedures and its leadership. An election was held in the summer and Paul was confirmed as chair, with Catherine Dumait-Harper of Médecins sans Frontií¨res as Vice-Chair. Six others were elected to form a Steering Group, along with the two officers. The Steering Group met to establish membership criteria for new applicants and to consider the future development of the Working Group.

New Horizons of Interaction and Advocacy (1999-2000)

During 1999, in spite of the departure of the Portugese from the Council, the WG further increased the rhythm of its work. No single delegation assumed the role of Portugal, but a number of delegates proved to be strong friends and allies, including Ambassador Robert Fowler of Canada, Ambassador Peter van Walsum of the Netherlands, Ambassador Danilo Türk of Slovenia, and Ambassador Fernando Petrella of Argentina as well as their delegations. The UK, under Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock, adopted a cordial approach, while Ambassador Alain Dejammet of France proved positive as well. China increased its engagement, though slowly.

During 1999, delegations began to invite the working group chairman James Paul to private receptions at the end of their Council presidencies, providing an exceptional opportunity for informal communication. In many other ways, relations deepened between delegations and the WG and its members. Altogether, the WG held 45 events in 1999, 32 of them meetings with Council members. In December, the WG held its first reception, which many delegates attended.

During 2000, the process flourished. Meetings continued at a rapid pace, but NGO advocacy steadily increased. Since the Working Group itself did not take positions on substantive issues, members formed ad hoc groups to work on advocacy topics such as Iraq sanctions, conflict diamonds, and the crises in Angola, Sudan and Sierra Leone.

Several NGO groupings wrote letters to the Council. In the spring, in response to a long campaign by the Working Group, the Council agreed to hold an Arria Formula Briefing with NGOs, a step that permanent member delegations had vigorously opposed. Two more Arria briefings followed later in the year. Council members also consulted with NGOs in preparation for thematic debates during their Council presidencies. The tone of interaction between delegations and the WG had changed from formality to an often collegial and friendly interchange. Information and opinion flowed easily in both directions. The Working Group appeared to be firmly established as part of the Security Council landscape.