Felix Dodds and Michael Strauss How To Lobby at Intergovernmental Meetings (Earthscan, 8-12 Camden High Street, London NW 1 0JH, UK, 2004, 169pp.) UN Non-Governmental Liaison Service with Gretchen Sidhu Intergovernmental Negotiations and Decision Making at The United Nations, A Guide (NGLS, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland, 2003, 108pp.)

Two useful guides written primarily for representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) who wish to lobby at the United Nations and UN-sponsored conferences. The Earthscan guide is written by Felix Dodds, the director of the Stakeholder Forum for Our Common Future with a shorter section by Michael Strauss on the importance of the media and good advice on relations with journalists. The UN Non-Governmental Liaison Service (NGLS) is a program of the UN Secretariat which encourages NGOs to be more effective in their relations with the UN, largely by publishing a useful bulletin GO Between and organizing briefings for NGO representatives. Gretchen Sidhu, who writes a section more directly for NGO representatives, has worked both as a journalist and NGO representative at UN meetings and Conferences. Both books are oriented to those NGOs working on economic and social issues. The human rights field is somewhat a “world unto itself”, but many of the general rules are the same. Disarmament also presents special problems for NGOs, especially if they do not have a long experience in efforts to present ideas to arms control negotiators. The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Trade Organization are also important bodies whose work influences the lives of many. However, they are difficult to follow, and even more difficult to influence. There are an increasing number of NGOs who receive consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) which is the usual way for NGOs to have access to the UN. Many of these new groups have only worked at the local or national level, and they often have a hard time in understanding how UN institutions work. In some cases, these new organizations are basically instruments of their national government and are told what to do by the government’s representatives. In other cases, they have no links to their government, and their national representatives do all they can to make their work difficult. During the 1990s there were a host of UN-sponsored world conferences on such themes as human rights, women, population, ecology, social development, and racism. All these world conferences had large-scale NGO participation, both at the governmental conference and at parallel NGO conferences held at the same time as the governmental conference.

In addition, the World Social Forums have brought together a large number of NGOs and less structured movements who discover that the UN, the World Bank etc have an influence on their lives and now wish to have their voices heard in the UN halls. “As the NGLS guide notes “The UN can seem a vast and bewildering place, full of undecipherable language, meeting behind closed doors, strange regulations and unwieldy organizational structures. However understanding how it all works is the critical first step to make in order to be able to participate effectively, whether advocating a position at a world conference or the regional monitoring of an international body or global programme of action.” Even those NGO representatives who are used to lobby at national parliaments find the UN difficult to understand. Firstly, there are cultural styles — Africans, Latin Americans, Arabs, Asians, Europeans and North Americans all have different negotiating styles, and react differently to people they do not know. Within each group, the governmental representatives may not like each other and may think of themselves as very different. Nevertheless, one can speak of an “African style “or an “Arab style”. The second big difference between the UN and a national parliament is that at the UN issues are rarely settled by a real vote — although there are votes on resolutions. Since the UN can not force compliance with the terms of a resolution, it is felt that the best approach are decisions by consensus, in the belief that strong collective support can help transform the resolution into effective action, sometimes immediately, most often by passing the same resolution year after year to show that this is “world opinion” Thus, rather than deciding on a strong resolution by a vote which would indicate differences of opinion, an effort is made to find a wording that will bring nearly all the States along — often the lowest common denominator. The search for consensus has led to a UN language all of its own —“UNese”. Thus, NGOs must learn to read the language in which resolutions are written and then learn to write in “UNese”. Since diplomats have very little time to spare for NGO representatives, it is best to give them a short (2 pages at the most) text with possible wording for a resolution, followed by necessary background information. As both guides stress, it is important to know both the mandates and the limits of UN bodies. Too often appeals are sent to the Secretary-General requesting things on which he has no mandate to act. Once one knows who does what, it is important to know when. The resolutions for UN conferences are written months before the conference in preparatory meetings, usually in New York or Geneva. If NGO ideas are to be fed into the process, it must be done during the preparatory phase with the help of friendly governments. Thus, it is important to know what role governments have played in past conferences or on the topic in question in the UN General Assembly. It is rare that a new issue comes up. All ideas have a history, and it is important to know where and when an idea has been raised before. Knowledge of past efforts is crucial in finding both governmental and NGO allies. The UN Secretariat and the Secretariat of UN Specialized Agencies such as the ILO or UNESCO are often the institutional memory. It is important to talk with them but not during meetings when they are much too busy. By knowing some past history, it is easier to ask “the right questions”. Secretariat members can pass on information as to which governmental representatives have played a key role in past discussions on an issue. While the

representatives of “The Great Powers” will always play a role, certain representatives from smaller countries can be experts on the issue and will do much of the drafting of the texts. As Felix Dodds writes “Negotiations are not linear in their application; they are, by nature, a messy process, and it is even difficult for governments to keep abreast of what is happening at times.” This is especially true for smaller or poor countries who have fewer staff members at a meeting and much less backup in the Foreign Ministry. Thus NGO representatives can often trade information with the representatives of smaller countries, keeping each other mutually up to date. Probably the most important advice to be passed on is not to expect too much but never give up. What then Senator Robert Kennedy said at the University of Cape Town in June 1966 when there were few signs of positive change in South Africa remains true for all our efforts, “Few will have the greatness to bend history; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation…It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is thus shaped. Each time a person stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, they send forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.” Rene Wadlow

Painting : Lona Towsley