By Dr. Clinton D.W. Robinson
SIL Representative to UNESCO
April 16, 1999
Mr. Kofi Annan
Secretary General
One UN Plaza
New York, NY 10017
USA
Dear Mr. Annan
I am writing to ask for your special help in improving UN-NGO co-operation. SIL is a NGO in special consultative status with ECOSOC. It has come to our attention that we could have access to all the UN documents that we need to do our research in various projects if we had access to the UN's ODS system. When we enquired about this possibility, we were told that the only way could use this system was if we paid a large fee of $1,150 per year for a password to it. We are a moderate sized NGO and, as most NGOs are, very tightly budgeted so that we can free up as many of the funds we receive to be used on the field. Obviously, this fee for the use of the ODS is too large for us to be able to use it. We would like to suggest that the fee should be dropped substantially or be completely abolished in order to facilitate further the co-operation between the UN and NGOs which is so essential in today's world.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Dr Clinton D. W. Robinson
SIL representative to UNESCO and
Geneva and Vienna Offices of the UN
More Information on NGO Access at the UN
More Information on NGOs and the Official Documents System
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