2000
International Peace and Security
The United Nations Charter charges the Security Council with primary responsibility for international peace and security. In a world wracked by wars and internal crises, the Council is more active than ever, meeting constantly amid the clash of national interests and the urgent pleas of victims for peace and safety.
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Picture credit and copyright: A. Raffaele Ciriello |
Nearly all crises on the Council's agenda have terrible consequences -- millions of displaced and refugees, hundreds of thousands of wounded and maimed, families torn apart, livelihoods destroyed, landscapes sown with deadly mines. Yet there are those who profit handsomely from these conflicts: arms traders, smugglers of illicit diamonds and drugs, financial profiteers, companies competing for shares in profitable raw materials markets. There are also geo-political interests at stake as powerful countries maneuver for spheres of influence. Global Policy Forum seeks to make the Council more open and accountable by providing information to the public about the Council's work and by introducing public concerns directly to Council members.
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The NGO Working Group on the Security Council, under GPF leadership, enables key NGOs to meet with Security Council ambassadors and other UN officials nearly every week. Working Group members include Amnesty International, Médecins sans Frontií¨res, Oxfam, Saferworld, Save the Children, Human Rights Watch, and the Quaker UN Office.
Working Group members closely monitor the Council's work. They lobby for more effective and speedy action by the Council and for a more human-centered approach to security emergencies. Many participating NGOs have staff and programs located in emergency areas. They enjoy great legitimacy among delegations, and they provide vital information and proposals that many Council members welcome.
Working Group Meetings and Contacts
GPF organized thirty-eight events of the NGO Working Group in 2000, including thirty-one meetings with Council delegates, nearly always the ambassador. We also organized the Working Group's governance meetings and elections, a meeting with the Council's five newly-elected ambassadors, and a Annual reception attended by many delegates.
During 2000, the meetings changed in tone towards a more informal interaction, allowing NGOs to engage more effectively with delegates. Further, outside the meeting series, we broadened our informal contacts with delegations and increased the breadth of the issues addressed. Many delegations came to rely increasingly on NGO partners for information and other aspects of their work in the Council.
A Changing Council
For the past four years, GPF and its NGO partners have pressed the Council to work in a more open and accountable way. We especially urged the Council to meet more often in open sessions, rather than mostly behind closed doors as had been past practice. In 2000, we were pleased that the Council moved towards more open and public debates, a trend that was confirmed by decisions in December 1999 and put into practice by Ambassador Richard Holbrooke of the United States in January 2000 and by subsequent Council presidents. The Council not only switched to more open meetings but also adopted a much more flexible range of meeting types, allowing it to choose open options much more frequently.
Council Members and the UN Turn to NGOs
During 2000, the Council responded to NGOs in four important new ways, due in large measure to GPF projects and initiatives:
Arria Formula Briefings Open to NGO Participation As a result of a vigorous advocacy campaign by GPF and its partners, Council members finally agreed to invite NGOs to participate in Arria Formula Briefings. Ambassador Diego Arria of Venezuela initiated these briefings in 1993 to enable the Council to meet informally with anyone who could provide useful information. Permanent Members eventually turned the briefings away from their original purpose, using them instead to meet with government officials. GPF worked for three years with friendly delegations and NGO partners to return the Council to Ambassador Arria's intent. In 2000 we finally succeeded, as the Council held three Arria Briefings with NGOs: an April 12 briefing organized by Canada on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, a July 25 briefing organized by Namibia on children in armed conflict, and an October 23 briefing by Jamaica on women, peace and security.
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Members of the NGO Working Group with Ambassador Neewoor of Mauritius (3rd from left), |
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NGOs Invited to Joint Briefings with Council, UN Agencies We have constantly urged Council delegations to make better use of NGO information and analysis as they wrestle with regional emergencies. In 2000, UK ambassador Sir Jeremy Greenstock invited NGOs to attend a briefing prior to the departure of a Council mission to conflict-torn Sierra Leone – the first invitation of this kind.
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A UN peacekeeper on duty in the Balkans. |
The ambassador invited a few human rights and humanitarian NGOs with special expertise on West Africa to join officials of UN agencies in a pre-departure event on September 28. The NGOs, many of whom had fresh information direct from the field, contributed greatly to the discussion and had a clear impact on the program of the Council's mission. The same group was invited again on October 25, after the return of the mission, to discuss results. Such an exchange would have been unthinkable only a year or two earlier. NGO Participation in Planning Thematic Debates The president of the Security Council often organizes a special "thematic debate" that considers important policy issues. During 2000, Council delegations increasingly turned to NGOs for advice and information in organizing these debates. NGOs Invited to Consult with Secretariat and Inter-Agency Bodies Recognizing the growing interaction of NGOs with the Security Council, the UN Secretariat turned more frequently to NGOs for information and consultation on peace and security matters. In the course of the year, at least a dozen joint NGO-Secretariat meetings took place on Council-related policy issues such as conflict diamonds, African refugees, conflict prevention and the humanitarian impact of sanctions. |
Policy Advocacy
GPF and its NGO partners increasingly raised policy issues with Council members during the year. Because the NGO Working Group as a whole does not take joint advocacy positions, smaller ad hoc coalitions necessarily arise. In addition to the advocacy issues already mentioned above, GPF was involved in the following efforts to respond creatively to regional crises:
Angola Conflict We continued to support the initiatives of Canadian ambassador Robert Fowler, and his successor Paul Heinbecker, to develop a tight and effective sanction regime against the rebel group Unita. In April, we took leadership in preparing a major NGO letter to the President of the Security Council on this issue.
Sierra Leone Conflict We encouraged Council members to develop a sanctions regime against rebel forces in Sierra Leone on the Angolan model, we participated in a letter to the President of the Council in June, and we advocated more effective Council action in the widening conflict in the West African region.
Iraq Sanctions We continued our very active commitment to advocacy on Iraq sanctions, calling on the Council to fulfill its humanitarian obligations and urging a lifting of the general trade sanctions. Working with an ad hoc group of NGOs, we held a luncheon with delegates (hosted jointly by GPF and the Quaker UN Office), circulated policy information, networked actively and participated in two letters to the President of the Council – in March and again in August (on the date marking the tenth year of the sanctions).
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NGO Working Group discussing Angola |
Sanctions Policy We continued to work very actively on general sanctions policy, urging the Council to adopt rules and methods that would assure legality and even-handedness. We were pleased when the Council in April set up a committee to study this question under the chairmanship of Ambassador Anwarul Chowdhury of Bangladesh. Expert Group Reports We advocated wider use by the Council of expert groups to examine sanctions enforcement. First used in Angola by Ambassador Fowler, the Council has now set up expert panels on Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of the Congo as well. The reports of these groups have been surprisingly frank for UN documents. We would like to see regular use of these panels in the future. |
Peacekeeping Policy Upon the release of the "Brahimi Report" on Peacekeeping Reform in the spring, we participated in many policy discussions about the strengthening of UN peacekeeping. We supported most of the Brahimi Report proposals, but we called attention to the weaknesses of UN peacekeeping, as presently organized on an ad hoc basis, and we insisted that the financial problems of the UN must be solved before peacekeeping can be properly organized.
Public Information
Throughout the year, GPF built its web-based information on the Security Council, including materials about the Council's meetings, statements, procedures, elections and other issues. Complementing our world-class section on Council-imposed sanctions, we continued to develop a new section on UN peacekeeping. We also posted a large amount of information on the major security crises, especially Iraq, and we built important new sections on conflict diamonds and small arms.
Council delegations have told us they find the site very useful for their work. Journalists, researchers, students and many others use the site to understand the Council, the crises and efforts to maintain peace.
In addition to the web site, GPF provided a number of public lectures, media interviews and other outreach relating to the Security Council and its work.
UN Finance | Social and Economic Policy | NGOs
Web Site and Public Outreach | Interns, Research Scholars and Friends | Administration & Budget
Global Policy Forum is supported primarily by contributions from generous individuals who join as members. GPF also receives grants from foundations and partner institutions. GPF is incorporated in the State of New York, registered as a charitable organization and recognized by the US Internal Revenue Service as a not-for-profit, tax-exempt organization under section 501(c)(3) of the revenue code.
