The Role of NGOs in the United Nations - Term Paper Example

Student’s Name Instructor’s Name Course Date The Role of NGO’s in United Nations Introduction Non-governmental organizations are not-for-profit and principally independent groups from governments that are organized at local, national and international levels to address issues with the aim of supporting the public good. The NGO’s are task oriented and constitute people with common interests. The organizations perform various services and humanitarian functions such as monitoring policy and program implementation, draw public concern to governments and encourage participation of the civil society stakeholders at the local levels. NGO’s have been partners of the United Nations since 1947 evident from Article 71 of the United Nations Charter where NGO's were mandated consultative status with United Nations Economic and Social Council (Paul 10). Since then, Non-governmental Organizations have increasingly become an integral part of United Nations. The relationship of the NGO's and the United Nations usually differ depending on the location and the mandate given to them. For instance, the NGO's that perform the information component role can be associated with the United Nations Department of public information. The NGO's participate significantly in the international system by contributing valuable information and ideas, advocate for positive change, increase the legitimacy and accountability of global governance, accreditation and provide essential operational capacity in development and emergency efforts (Paul 12) Contributing Valuable Information and Ideas The NGO's have come up with new standards of contributing positively to the United Nations and reached further levels of accessibility in new settings. The participation of the NGO's at the UN levels is said to be informal but effective alongside the governments and in an advanced negotiation process. Through their informal participation providing information and ideas, they exercise a significant influence on the outcomes through expertise and proposals of creative policies (Paul 81). Each year, the Commission on Human Rights sits at Geneva and attracts various NGO Participants who provide important information and substantial inputs to United Nations deliberations. The Commission works tirelessly to incorporate extensive NGO participation, giving their representatives an opportunity to share their ideas at plenary sessions and also circulate informative documents. NGO's seek greater access to UN information such as official documents. They serve as the major disseminators of information on behalf of the United Nations (Paul 81). The organizations are also in need of the same information for monitoring their work and policy consultation. The UN established website provides substantial improvement to the information distribution where the NGO's do not require physical presence to receive UN services. All the relevant documents as pertains to the UN are available in English and some other languages (Paul 82). Advocacy The NGO's, through its relations with the United Nation's Secretariat, performs various advocacy roles. Several NGO maintains close relationship with the UN Secretariat offices that are related to their area of policy and specialization. The UN secretary general is also in close contact with many NGO's in the forms of letters, communications, petitions and other policy matters. The United Nations offices of ECOSOC and the department of public information both supervise the accreditation of NGO's. These offices provide important services to the overall NGO environment. In the last fifteen years, there has been increased participation of the NGO's in the UN consultative status that has resulted in formal participation in the international political system by the NGO's. The Non-governmental organizations with status can actively participate in international conferences and events that are convened by the United Nations (Paul 93). The NGO's participate more formally by submitting both oral and written statements at the United Nation's ECOSOC and its subsidiary bodies of NGO expertise issues. They achieve this task by setting up booths at the United Nations offices or organizing their own events. Mobilization in such a way is difficult, and for each story that has been successful, there have been many failed efforts (Paul 201). The rise of U.N. consultative status of NGOs has existed since the early 1970s. Some government diplomats are increasingly aware of this growing influence, but only a few have tried to counter this impact by airing complaints against NGOs within the U.N. Committee on NGOs. All in all, Government diplomats at UN and NGOs are ever working more closely together to deal with the worldly challenges that face us all. Most NGOs have made good use of their status to increase their networks with other NGO's that they associate and partner with. NGO's have the possibility of designating representatives who have close access to the United Nations' grounds where there are many opportunities for lobbying delegates and member states. NGO's insert their ideas on government policy formulations where they can act on behalf of divergent grounds to broke agreements. Through this Duty, the NGO's have some degree of access to most government official and can advocate for the common citizen (Paul 101). They not only advocate for the government policy formulations in political perspective but also for the plight of the poor. They achieve this through demonstrations and pilot projects and public forums. Through a consultative status, the NGO's are equipped with the credibility and legitimacy in the United Nations system and in the government. The credibility and legitimacy is also experienced by the NGO's in other organizations that they might not attain without performing the consultative role. Through the consultative role of the NGO's, they are very effective in raising visibility and consciousness concerning human rights issues and other global concern issues that the government has failed to address (Paul 121). The NGO's have raised global concerns at the international policy conference concerning global problems as well as mobilizing successful campaigns to address the problems. Global Governance Specific Non-governmental organizations add to the legitimacy of the United Nations. The NGO's have an indirect access to the United Nations general assembly through their collaboration with the ECOSOC and certain General Assembly subsidiary organs. Many resolutions of the general assembly come from the recommendations of the NGO's and other subsidiary bodies. In some occasions, however, NGO representatives have addressed UN General Assembly directly. Through the relationship between the NGO's and the UN, consultative strategies on economic and social councils have been increased. Some NGO's emphasize for democracy in countries that face political turbulences especially at the ties of elections. These independent bodies appear to exercise more authority in advocating for positive changes in the governing system than any other political bodies. Being independent, they are perceived not to be taking sides with brewing political atmospheres in various countries. During elections, some NGO's have sought to act as international observers to the electoral system for transparency issues on behalf of the international community. The role of these NGO's is to ensure that international governance favors justice for all the citizens in accordance with the objectives of the international community (Rasche and Dirk 110). For instance; majority of the world's most significant changes have been influenced by people fighting for significant principles. NGO's made an important contribution to ending apartheid and the Vietnam War. But since the fall of the Berlin Wall, socialistic points of views are feared, and their ideals are perceived as a lost cause. It is widely comprehended that the free market system cannot end the problems facing humans since it leads to inequality between the poor and the rich. In the end, NGOs will have to forge a new ideology according to democracy in both political and economic spheres. If NGO views about justice and equality appear old-fashioned, then NGOs ought to face that fact and accept the roles of the principles they espouse. This is because criticizing aspects of others' decisions is not enough as the key challenge is to come up alternatives that work (Weiss, Tatiana and Richard 125). Legitimacy and Accountability The legitimacy of NGO at the international level can be looked at in considering the representatives of the NGO's, how the NGO's contribute to the United Nations and how the formal engagement of the NGO's can be compared to the status quo. The NGO's represent the global publics at the United Nations Summit, whereby they increase the legitimacy of the institutions. The participation of the NGO's in the in other international organizations guarantees them the legitimacy of international organizations. NGO's play a vital role in mobilizing individuals and representing their specific interests in a way their elected representatives have failed to represent them. The representation of the special interests can be seen as a strength that many government and state officials have failed to represent for their people. The quality of decision making has been improved through the involvement of the non-governmental organization at the United Nations general assembly (Baur and Guido 585). The NGO's facilitate input legitimacy by coming up with new issues that focus on the moral and ethical dimensions of decision making. They stand to challenge basic assumptions that can lead to failures and unfair decisions. The NGO's can serve as a check on behalf of the United Nations on what the member states government officials by monitoring their decisions. People can be affected by intergovernmental decision whereby the NGO acts as an independent oversight body in the international law-making (Baur and Guido 590). Partnership in Implementation The government alone can find it very difficult to solve the current global problems. In order to implement the various United Nations General Assembly resolution and decisions, partnership with NGO's is needed pivotal, in this essence; the NGO's have assisted the United Nations in executing its projects. Involvement in the United Nations projects also implies that the organizations would not be left behind in decision making since decision-making results to the implementation of new projects by the United Nations. In 1999, the NGO's had already taken a larger portion in involvement on UN matters. Various projects such as food projects have found both financial and technical assistance from the non-governmental organizations. The NGO's participate with the World Health Organization in fight for diseases such as poliomyelitis that rock some regions of the world (Paul 141). NGOs are very concerned about differences among United Nations member states and within the NGO society on some significant factors in the ECOSOC review of plans for consultations with NGOs. Governments that favor wider NGO access to the economic and social duties of the UN do not appear to support greater NGO access to other UN bodies, like the General Assembly and Security Council, or the World Bank, World Trade Organization and IMF. Other governments do not appear to recognize the value of the UN widening the activities of NGOs. Some international NGOs propose that expanded NGO participation would neutralize the value of consultative status and cause insurmountable problems of logistics (Paul 181). Other NGOs do not go by this point of view, and illustrate positive examples of NGO that participate in the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) and the Human Rights Commission. Peace Building Commissions The peacebuilding commission of the United Nations works closely with the NGO's especially in areas where the civil societies have considerable expertise and can play a significant role in restoring peace. The United Nations Security Council is increasing its address on the security issues about human rights. The work of the NGO's as participants in the procedures of monitoring is further strengthened through the secretary general who proposes that the NGO's should be actively involved in the security issues of the United Nations. In war prone zones, the Humanitarian agencies that are mostly the NGO's participate in peace missions on behalf of the United Nations. The peace building commissions works to obtain volunteers for restoring peace in war-stricken zones of the world. The NGO's have always been in the front line for assisting the United Nations with Volunteer workforce for peace building missions (Hill, Mikele and Sara 106). Their acceptance to collaborate with the UN in peacekeeping mission makes them readily available for offering technical personnel. The peace building commissions have succeeded in organization of essential elements of restoring peace in war-prone regions. International Labor Organization There is growing cooperation between International labor organization and the Non-governmental organization where the ILO seems to be very active. The international labor organization has recognized about 200 NGO's which have the access to all or some of its discussion forums, an indication of a growing cooperation. The NGO's are playing an important role in emphasizing respect for the rights of employers and employees acting on behalf of the ILO. The information collected by NGO's on the ground about the rights of employees is usually regarded as first hand information and plays a vital role in addressing the employee - employer issues. Governments may fail to look into the plights of workers because of the conflicts of interest with the politicians (Paul 147). The NGO' s work hand in hand with the International Labor Organization to ensure that the national governments are not ignorant to the issues dealing with labor especially where the workers are facing oppression from their employers or the government itself. The NGO's are an eye to the international labor organization since the organization may not be in a position to monitor each government comprehensively (Paul 148). Human Rights Advocacy Human Rights non-governmental organizations are usually created with the objective of helping the government and other government entities to address human rights issues. The NGO's ensure compliance with the human rights and accountability for human rights violations. Most treaties provide the review mechanisms where NGO' play an important role in furnishing important information regarding violation of human rights by the state parties (Paul 160). The NGO are in a position to interrogate official state reports and come up with observations that formulate an accurate assessment of the observation of the situation. The treaty bodies tend to expand their cooperation and collaboration with the NGO's and formulates their own methods of work. NGO's participation in the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights allows them to be involved in the consultative status. The NGO's may comment on state reports by giving written reports or oral presentation and can participate in general discussions and come up with a draft of general comments. The UN committee that oversees the implementation of the international convention on human rights interpreted the article 74(4) to allow for submission of NGO's written statements and their participation (Paul 160). Environmental and Social Issues The United Nations participate in issues related to environmental protection. The sole body, United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) may not be in a position to reach the grass root levels of environmental protection. There are several non-governmental organizations that work hand in hand with UNEP in ensuring that environmental issues are addressed at both the international level and the grass root level. The NGO's can act as important elements of dissemination knowledge and ideas concerning environmental protection. The success in coming up with the United Nations Environmental Program can be to some extent accorded the dedication and commitment of many NGO's (Schroeder and Heather 31). The relationship between UNEP and NGO's was enacted in the Directive on Criteria for NGO's Accreditation as governing council observers and in Rules for Civil Society Engagement at the governing council. The NGO's also works hand in hand with the UNICEF. UNICEF is United Nations body that looks into the issues of children and also participates in the executive non-member board meetings. The United Nations launched an initiative partnership action under the UN refugee agency established a strong cooperation between the NGO's and United Nations High Commission for Refugees. The relationship between the NGO's and the UNHCR is either an operational or an implementation kind of relationship. The services are synchronized by the NGO's Coordinating Unit which is the central point for all legislations concerning NGO's (Unerman and Brendan 479). Economics NGO's play a vital role in the World Bank Group an agency of the UN through consultation and dialogue. There has been intensive and fair dialogue that has been taking place between the World Bank and NGO's since 1995. Through its poverty reduction strategy introduced in 1999, the World Bank has made significant efforts in intensifying NGO's participations. This participation of the World Bank and the NGO's has increased by its participation in the issues of gender, poverty and environment which are mostly associated with the NGO's. This has also resulted into some institutional reforms and improvements in the quality of links between the World Bank Group and the NGO's. In comparison with other international economic organizations, the World Bank has made greater efforts in participation with NGO's (Alger 89). Accreditation The NGO's may receive accreditation for conference, summit or other events organized by the United Nations. The accreditation is usually issued by the office of the secretariat in arrangement of the event and usually expires at the culmination of the event. The accreditation fully entitles the NGO's to engage in the preparation process and the event, therefore impacting on its outcome. The United Nation's preparatory committee in 1990 decided on broader perspective for the participation of NGO's. It enables the participation of NGO representatives from both the developing and the developed countries (Paul 183). Conclusion Despite the great works evident in the NGO's relationship with the UN, there is still a deficit in NGO’s in the day to day policy formulation. Regional commissions ought to be more NGO-friendly and secretariat services for NGOs at UN meetings must be upgraded to incorporate increased NGO interest and activity. International NGOs dealing in consultative status should be at the forefront in the call for wider access for a range of NGOs to the UN. NGOs should consider the issue of NGO access to the UN with their governments while maintaining the role of the ECOSOC (Paul 200). At the minimum point, formal UN protocols should be flexible enough to accommodate any competent NGO, hence, making relevant contributions. There is the need to work at the local, the national, and the United Nations levels at the same time. Advocacy movements should contact vital decision-makers in national government parliaments, intergovernmental secretariats, and government administrations. All in all, Government diplomats at UN and NGOs are ever working more closely together to deal with the global challenges that face us all. Work Cited Alger, Chadwick F. "Interaction and negotiation in a committee of the United Nations General Assembly." Chadwick F. Alger. Springer International Publishing, 2014. 87-104. Baur, Dorothea, and Guido Palazzo. "The moral legitimacy of NGOs as partners of corporations." Business Ethics Quarterly 21.04 (2011): 579-604. Hill, Felicity, Mikele Aboitiz, and Sara Poehlman‐Doumbouya. "Nongovernmental organizations’ role in the buildup and implementation of Security Council Resolution 1325." Signs 40.1 (2014). Paul, James A. "Civil society and the United Nations." Global Civil Society: Shifting Powers in a Shifting World (2012): 63. Print Rasche, Andreas, and Dirk Ulrich Gilbert. "Institutionalizing global governance: the role of the United Nations Global Compact." Business Ethics: A European Review 21.1 (2012): 100-114. Schroeder, Heike, and Heather Lovell. "The role of non-nation-state actors and side events in the international climate negotiations." Climate Policy 12.1 (2012): 23-37. Unerman, Jeffrey, and Brendan O'Dwyer. "NGO accountability and sustainability issues in the changing global environment." Public Management Review 12.4 (2010): 475-486. Weiss, Thomas G., Tatiana Carayannis, and Richard Jolly. "The “Third” United Nations." Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Organizations 15.1 (2009): 123-142. Read More