The United Nations convened the Financing for Development Conference in Monterrey, Mexico in March 2002. For the first time at a major UN conference, NGOs were actively involved in the lead-up to the conference, and the conference itself. However, only a comparatively small number of NGOs were invited. Those who were lucky enough to get an invitation expressed frustration that the conference organizers had only invited them in the hopes of quelling the global justice activists protesting outside.
Monterrey Goes Global (March 26, 2002)
The Americas Program argues that NGO invitations to participate in the Financing for Development Conference were simply an attempt to undermine anti-globalization protests outside the conference hall. At Monterrey "our voices [were] heard but not listened to," claims one delegate.
Protesters Complain of Exclusion at Monterrey Conference (March 19, 2002)
Demonstrations "against what [the protesters] see as the exclusionary effects of free trade, globalization and neo-liberal economic policy" occurred on the opening day of the UN Conference of Financing for Development. It was the first time however, that NGO's were included in the Monterrey Process. (News)
NGOs Gather to Discuss Poverty Ahead of UN Summit (March 14, 2002)
Prior to the UN Conference on Financing for Development, representatives of NGOs, the IMF and the World Bank take part in a roundtable to present their proposals on the fight to eradicate poverty. (Agence France Presse)
Where Is the International Coalition Against Poverty? (March 12, 2002)
"The Monterrey Consensus is a sham," assert European NGOs in advance of the Financing for Development Conference in Monterrey, Mexico. "Governments were able to build an international coalition against terrorism in less than a month. NGOs await the formation of an international coalition against poverty." (Campaign to Reform the World Bank)