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January 6, 1998 BKK POST: ANALYSIS
- Subject: January 6, 1998 BKK POST: ANALYSIS
- From: suriya@xxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 06:23:00
January 6, 1998
ANALYSIS / GROWING FROM STRENGTH TO
STRENGTH
NGOs: A star is
born
There were Greenpeace, Amnesty
International and some other
household-name NGOs back in the '80s,
but it is this decade that has seen an
explosion in the number and the
influence of these special interest
groups.
SUCHADA KULAWAT
New York
Jody Williams was reassuring. In front of an international media
agency's camera, Ms Williams, coordinator of the International
Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) which won the 1997
Nobel Peace Prize, gave an American ambassador a friendly pat
and teasingly denied she'll put him out of a job.
It's the scene that reflects the end of diplomacy as we knew it.
At the United Nations, most ambassadors and diplomats might
like to do their jobs as usual, but it has not been business as
usual. NGOs like ICBL have been moving more from corridors
to podiums, from the sidelines into the negotiating games.
And 1997 was to NGO-government relations what 1989 had
been to East-West relations. Last year marked "the fall of the
Berlin Wall" for multi-lateral diplomacy.
After some 50 years, the wall of diplomatic traditions crumbled
when NGOs emerged as the real shakers of international policies
and laws, from banning landmines, curbing corruption, setting up
a world criminal court to saving the world from greenhouse
gases.
"Development, peace and democracy are no longer the exclusive
responsibility of governments, global organisations or
inter-governmental bodies," said UN secretary-general Kofi
Annan recently.
Also, the victory of the ICBL and its 1,000 NGO partners
signifies the erosion of "national interests" as we knew them. Ms
Williams, a US citizen of Vermont, protects America's long-term
"national interests" her own way: by openly criticising
Washington.
"Why does the one remaining superpower with the most
advanced war weapons in the world still need to rely on the
landmine? Everybody else is ready to give it up but the United
States," she said, "I think that's shameful."
Meanwhile, the US government maintains that it is committed to
eliminating landmines and that it has supported various demining
projects around the world.
The ICBL's winning the Nobel prize makes it much more difficult
for countries like the United States, China, India and Pakistan to
stay outside of "the tide of history", said Ms Williams.
The 20th century project of international organisations is all
about how to stretch national interests and preferences,
sometimes somehow, to produce more public goods that the
inter-state behaviour, often dictated by political and market
interests, would fail to produce, says the UN.
For the world body, NGOs are now its essential partners, not
only in mobilising public opinion but also in making policies.
More important, NGOs will make sure that governments keep
their promises or act on whatever they agreed to do to better
peoples' lives.
What are NGOs?
Despite some definition games and complex legalities debated
among experts, most agree that NGOs are basically
organisations set up by private individuals - instead of
governments - not to make profits but to help other people,
whether at the local, community or global level.
These not-for-profit organs are in all fields: from church groups
to people's assemblies, environment and human rights
watchdogs, government oversight bodies and relief organisations.
And the list goes on.
Today, there are up to 40,000 non-profit organs and networks
worldwide, according to the Union of International Associations.
The number of NGOs accredited with the UN is in the
thousands, with different status.
Analysts say there are three main elements at work that brought
NGOs to the world stage.
First, in the post-Cold War years, countries become more
democratised and civil society expanded with the growth of
citizen organisations at all levels.
Second, there is an imperative need for global action on global
problems. Most of today's world problems are trans-boundary.
Peoples and governments worldwide have to work together in
dealing with environment degradation, crime, drugs, human
rights, refugees, etc.
Third, the remarkable ease of instant global communication has
been a major building block in the rise of NGOs at the global
level and has led to the closer relationship between them and the
UN family.
With "the death of distance", the international civil society is
getting stronger and more vocal as people worldwide become
more connected and eager to form associations for common
causes.
Now international and local NGOs are working with
governments and the UN on development and humanitarian
projects around the world: from Thailand to Cambodia,
Palestine, the former Soviet republics and Rwanda.
But the NGOs' relationships with the UN and governments have
not all been too rosy.
The partnership began at the 1992 Earth Summit when UN
organisers decided to ease the old rules and invite all NGOs,
local and international, to come. And an unprecedented high
number of NGOs said "Yes".
For the past five years, the NGO-government relationship has
grown at a chain of international conferences: on human rights (in
1993), population (in 1994), social development (in 1995),
women (in 1995), habitat (in 1996), landmines and global
climate change (in 1997).
Naturally, the relationship has had its ups and downs. At the
1995 Copenhagen social summit, for example, some NGOs
protested as they were not allowed to enter conference rooms.
At the Beijing women's conference, certain NGOs were bitter
about the host's treatment.
The NGO-government relationship reached its peak in 1997,
both at the Kyoto conference on climate change and the Ottawa
conference to ban landmines, say observers.
What began in Rio has become normal practice. Now at
international conferences, NGOs have their own shows. Their
people influence the outcome. Their daily publications have
become the must-read for diplomats.
While most UN diplomats may be busy following routines such
as taking care of protocols, or sending telexes to their capitals,
NGOs have the resources and expertise to come up with fresh
ideas.
Some parts of international policies and agreements were born
out of NGOs' papers and wordings - slipped into diplomats'
hands and minds before they walked into the negotiating rooms.
More influentially, certain kinds of NGOs, such as policy or
research institutes, have become the original architects of
international initiatives. Sometimes their experts are in
government delegations: they negotiate while diplomats give
administrative support.
What are the future trends?
When it comes to the NGOs' contact with the UN, the line
between international NGOs and national or local bodies will
become blurred as all NGOs can be at the site of international
conferences, say analysts.
Meanwhile, the post-Rio generation of NGOs may challenge the
UN's and governments' ways of doing things, such as the UN's
criterion for giving "consultative status" to NGOs.
Besides, NGOs in the South will demand more say. For poorer
nations to inject more "non-western cultural influences" in
international policies and laws, governments in developing
countries need to strengthen the NGOs in their countries.
By the end of the 1990s, public service may have a new face
because of the rising interest in stretching public service into the
non-profit sector, say experts.
World-class public administration schools now aim to produce
leaders not only for governments but for the non-profit sector. A
possible scenario: future presidents, prime ministers and NGO
leaders are old college pals.
And the future is happening in some countries where non-profit
managers, from religious groups to think-tanks, are highly trained
in fund-raising and campaigning.
As scepticism of governments rises and inter-government
organisations are more helpless at times, NGOs have closed the
gap between governments' promises and actions.
For the Asia region of lost miracles where governments may
have their hands tied by international lending agencies'
conditions, NGOs, say observers, could give "first-aid" and,
more or less, ease people's pain caused by a government's poor
judgements, its preoccupation with economic and financial
policies, and the international community's indifference to social
impacts.
Does all this mean governments worldwide are losing their grip?
Not quite, say experts.
Instead, progress in the non-profit sector often depends on
governments' commitment to democracy and the political will to
strengthen the civil society through measures such as tax
privileges for NGOs, including people in policy-making, and
treating NGOs as equal partners.
"No government, however powerful, can do it on its own. Nor
can the United Nations," said UN secretary-general Annan.
In the drama of international life, NGOs have become "the new
lead actor" sharing roles with governments and the UN in local
and global scenes.
And the chances are the world not only needs more Jody
Williams, but it will see more.
* Suchada Kulawat is an analyst who served with the
Foreign Ministry, the UNDP's Bangkok regional office,
the Mission of Thailand to the UN in New York and the
UN mission to Bosnia.
© The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd. All rights reserved 1997
Contact the Bangkok Post
Web Comments: Webmaster
Last Modified: Tue, Jan 6, 1998
January 6, 1998
ANALYSIS / GROWING FROM STRENGTH TO
STRENGTH
NGOs: A star is
born
There were Greenpeace, Amnesty
International and some other
household-name NGOs back in the '80s,
but it is this decade that has seen an
explosion in the number and the
influence of these special interest
groups.
SUCHADA KULAWAT
New York
Jody Williams was reassuring. In front of an international media
agency's camera, Ms Williams, coordinator of the International
Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) which won the 1997
Nobel Peace Prize, gave an American ambassador a friendly pat
and teasingly denied she'll put him out of a job.
It's the scene that reflects the end of diplomacy as we knew it.
At the United Nations, most ambassadors and diplomats might
like to do their jobs as usual, but it has not been business as
usual. NGOs like ICBL have been moving more from corridors
to podiums, from the sidelines into the negotiating games.
And 1997 was to NGO-government relations what 1989 had
been to East-West relations. Last year marked "the fall of the
Berlin Wall" for multi-lateral diplomacy.
After some 50 years, the wall of diplomatic traditions crumbled
when NGOs emerged as the real shakers of international policies
and laws, from banning landmines, curbing corruption, setting up
a world criminal court to saving the world from greenhouse
gases.
"Development, peace and democracy are no longer the exclusive
responsibility of governments, global organisations or
inter-governmental bodieadding=6>
© The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd. All rights reserved 1997
Contact the Bangkok Post
Web Comments: Webmaster
Last Modified: Tue, Jan 6, 1998