FEBRUARY 2003

ICSW at the United Nations

This issue of Global Cooperation has been prepared by Elizabeth Mullen.
ICSW Special Representative to the United Nations.

United Nations Commission for Social Development, 41st Session

ICSW Civil Society Forum

As in previous years, ICSW in conjunction with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation and the UN Non Governmental Liaison Service (NGLS) held a Civil Society Forum on the Sunday (9th February 2003) before the opening of the Commission for Social Development's 41st Session. The theme for this year's session of the Commission was "National and International Cooperation for Social Development". The purpose of the Forum was to introduce the topics of the Commission to civil society in advance to the start of the Commission.

The morning session started with an introduction and welcome by Bushra Gohar, a Vice- President of ICSW, who in addition to welcoming the attendees explained that the President of ICSW, leader of a major NGO in his home country of Bangladesh, was in jeopardy due to the actions of his government which, since the recent election, have been hostile to some aspects of civil society. She urged the NGO's present to support efforts to change the situation in Bangladesh.

The first panel introduced and commented on the program of the 41st Session. Members of the panel included Alejandra Marta Ayuso of Argentina who is a member of the Bureau of the Commission, and Johan Scholvinck the Director, Division for Social Policy and Development, Department for Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations. These are persons well placed to discuss the programme of the Commission.

Mr. Scholvinck spoke about the fact that while international cooperation, especially international economic cooperation is well defined, the concept of international cooperation for social development is less clear and has received less consideration. He went on to discuss the Secretary-General's Report, which is the basic document underpinning the 41st Session. The document (E/cn.5/2003/5) is available on the UN Web Site. Mr Scholvinck's paper can be read here.

There are five sub-themes to be taken up by the Commission, which he also discussed in his speech, these are:

(a) Sharing of experiences and practices in social development
(b) Forging partnerships for social development
(c) Social responsibility of the private sector
(d) Impact of employment strategies on social development and
(e) Policies and role of international financial institutions and their effect on national social development strategies.

The second session was entitled "Partnerships in National and International Social Development". The three speakers spoke from three points of view. First, from the local/national point of view, second, from the national/regional point of view, and last, from the international point of view.

George Ahadzie, ICSW Regional President for Central and West Africa, spoke from the perspective of his organization and country, Ghana. The lesson here was that some governments do not want participation from civil society and will reach out to them only through donor pressure, at least initially.

Dirk Jarre, ICSW member of ICSW Executive Committee from Germany, gave an interesting presentation on what the ingredients of a partnership are, or should be, from both his experiences with his own organization and with the regional organizations operating in the European region. He identified compromise, consensus and preparation as the key ingredients of negotiations. And last, Judith Edstrom, Sector Manager, Social Development Department, The World Bank, Washington DC, talked about the Bank's efforts around PRSP's (Poverty Reduction Strategic Process). While Ms. Edstrom felt that these efforts were positive for developing governmental relations with civil society, it was clear that this was not always the case.

The task of the speakers in the last session was to discuss the priorities set forth for the Commission on Social Development. Chaired by Manfred Bardeleben of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, the first speaker, Marybeth Weinberger, Chief of the Population and Development Section of the United Nations Population Division, gave a presentation on changing demographics and their impact on social development with an emphasis on the biggest change, the ageing of populations.

This was followed by a presentation on the social responsibility of the private sector, presented by the Director of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), who focused on the impact of globalisation on the trade unions. Another key issue for the Commission is the "Impact of employment strategies on social development". A representative of the Dominican Leadership Conference, a religious based organization, talked about ILO standards, the impact of ageing work forces and globalisation.

The last panel speaker was Roberto Bissio, Coordinator of Social Watch who launched the Social Watch Report 2003 and gave an impassioned speech about human rights. Lawrence Correa who is the current chair of the New York UN NGO Committee for Social Development closed the event.


Madrid/Berlin: Challenges for Implementation in an Ageing Society: Briefing

ICSW, in conjunction with HelpAge International, hosted a briefing at lunchtime on the opening day of the Commission, 10th February 2003. The major activities of the Commission members and NGO's for the 2002 session were preparation for and attendance at two major events on ageing. The first, the Madrid Assembly on Ageing, took place in Madrid, Spain, in April of 2002. The second, a regional follow-up, took place in Berlin, Germany, in September of 2002. There have since been several regional meetings to decide on how to implement the
Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing, which was the outcome document of the Madrid Assembly.

The concern expressed by NGO's was regarding the follow-up to the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing. How is it to be implemented? What are the most serious challenges? What are governments, the United Nations, and other international bodies and agencies going to do to implement the Plan?

How is the follow-up to be structured? And how are governments and NGO's to relate to one another, to monitor adherence to the Plan and the commitments made by governments?

The Briefing, which was attended by interested NGO's and several members of country Delegations found that (1) not much progress had been made in defining the follow-up, and (2) in point of fact it appears that things have gone backwards rather than forwards.
The first indication was that DESA (Department of Economic and Social Affairs), the part of the United Nations overseeing the Ageing Unit, which is the focal point for the Madrid Assembly and beyond, rather than being strengthened, has instead been weakened by having to spread itself even thinner than it was during the 2002 year. In addition, several of the strongly committed governments and their ministries, which focus on ageing, had undergone elections with resulting changes in structure and personnel of the ministries. The changes in committed government personnel could be devastating for the outcome of the follow-up and monitoring, indeed for any forward movement of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing.

Moderated by ICSW Executive Director, Denys Correll, the outcome of the briefing, which included a presentation by a representative of the Spanish Government, was a feeling by the participants that despite the efforts of Madrid and Berlin, not much was going to change. Considering the changing demographics and the rapid ageing of populations, this is business as usual and cannot be sustained without serious consequences.

These two events took place during the early stages of the Commission meetings. A report of the Commission's accomplishments and decisions will be the subject of another report.


United Nations Representation in New York: Changes

As most of you know, Kate Katzki who represented ICSW at the UN in New York for many years died shortly before the Commission Meetings. Elinor Stevens who has also represented ICSW in New York for many years is asking to step down for health reasons. We at ICSW owe these women a tremendous vote of thanks for keeping the ICSW flag flying for many years at the United Nations. The ICSW Executive Committee appointed Elizabeth K. Mullen, former ICSW Global Treasurer and North American Regional President as Special Representative to the United Nations on behalf of ICSW. She will be recruiting new persons to represent ICSW at the United Nations in New York.


Secretary-General Appoints Panel to Assess Relations Between the UN and Civil Society:

In keeping with proposed UN Reform, the Secretary General has announced the formation of a Panel of Eminent Persons to "undertake an assessment of relations between the United Nations and civil society with the objective of formulating recommendations to the Secretary-General for enhancing interaction between the Organization and civil society, including parliamentarians and the private sector".


The specific charge to this panel is as follows:

  • Review existing guidelines, decisions and practices regarding civil society organizations access to and participation in United Nations deliberations and processes.
  • Identify new and better ways of interaction with NGOs and other civil society organizations through identifying best practices in the United Nations system and in other international organizations.
  • Examine ways in which participation of civil society actors from developing
    countries can be facilitated.
  • Review how the Secretariat is organized to facilitate, manage, share experiences and evaluate the United Nation's relationships with civil society.

The panel is supposed to report in twelve months, but we have been reliably informed that eighteen months is a more realistic deadline.

The panel, headed by Fernando Henrique Cardoso (former President of Brazil) includes representatives from the following countries:

  • Mr. Baghar Asadi (Iran)
  • Ms. Brigitta Dahl (Sweden)
  • Ms. Peggy Dulany (USA)
  • Mr. Andre Erdos (Hungary)
  • Ms. Asma Khadar (Jordan)
  • Mr. Juan Mayr (Columbia)
  • Ms. Malini Mehra (India)
  • Mr. Kumi Naidoo (South Africa)
  • Ms. Mary Racelis (Philippines)
  • Mr. Prakash Ratilal (Mozambique)
  • Ms. Aminata Traore (Mali)

We urge those members who know these people or who come from their countries to contact them and offer to assist them in getting information from civil society in their countries. It is important that you approach them so that they will have the benefit of your expertise in the field of relations between the United Nations and civil society, herein represented by NGO's.


Important dates at the United Nations

59th Session of Commission on Human Rights, 17th March-25 April 2003, Geneva, Switzerland
The provisional agenda as well as its annotations are available here.

ECOSOC High level meeting with Institutional stakeholders, April 14, 2003 UN New York Headquarters. The UN will be hosting the ECOSOC High level meeting with the World Bank,
International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) on 14th April 2003, immediately following the Spring Meetings of these Institutions.

Preparatory Meetings in March: NGO Strategy Session, March 19, 2003 at the UN. This session will provide an opportunity for NGOs to strategize around various issues: substance, content and
NGO message of the ECOSOC meetings: NGO representation at the High-level plenary session and selection of round table participants.

Interactive Preparatory Dialogue with NGOs March 20: In order to maximize the effectiveness of the ECOSOC, high-level meeting and to ensure that salient issues are discussed, the UN consultation with civil society is planning preparatory sessions in NY of exchanges between representative of civil society, ECOSOC Ambassadors and representatives of other institutions.

Business Sector/ECOSOC Interactive Dialogue, March 21st As of now, this dialogue will be open to NGO's.

The content of Global Cooperation may be freely reproduced or cited provided the source is acknowledged. The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily the policy of ICSW.If you have any questions or need further information on any of the activities or issues mentioned in this newsletter, please contact: Felicity Daly, Project Officer, at the Secretariat in London, or reply to this email. icsw@icsw.org.