The United Nations and civil society: a new step in the right direction. (NGO Watch).

It seems the combination of Kofi Annan as Secretary-General of the United Nations and the various UN conferences during the 1990s has been a good thing for the participation of civil society in the activities of the UN system. That said, however, it did take the upcoming World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) for a more formal breakthrough--the establishment of the Civil Society Bureau as an integral part of the WSIS.

The Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, saw the participation of over 20,000 individuals from various non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other elements of civil society. At the Summit, officially known as the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), the need to create a place for the civil society and business sectors to interact with the United Nations became clear, especially given the effects that such borderless issues as the environment and development have on all of us.

UNCED drafted an agenda for the twenty-first century: Agenda 21. The outcome included the classification of nine "major groups"--women, children and youth, indigenous people, NGOs, local authorities, trade unions, business and industry, the scientific and technological community, and farmers. They now participate regularly in the UN Commission on Sustainable Development through a mechanism commonly referred to as the "multi-stakeholder dialogue"; this includes representatives of Governments, civil society and the private sector with a stake or interest in the issues or problems confronting society. However, certain longtime civil society enthusiasts have described the multi-stakeholder dialogue as "frosting without the cake".

The World Summit on Sustainable Development [WSSD] in Johannesburg in August 2002 could be considered a case in point. Tens of thousands of civil society participants and NGOs convened for the ten-year review of the Earth Summit. The WSSD placed a limit on the amount of interaction possible between NGOs and Governments, with daily tickets needed to get into the Sandton Convention Center that housed the negotiations. It was not until the last day--the final hours of the Summit--that the multi-stakeholder dialogue was able to take place between government delegations and the hopeful youth, business, trade unions and NGOs who had travelled across the world to contribute to changing this planet on which we all live. The general sentiments of civil society representatives could be summed up as: "So the Governments would like us to come in and invigorate them in order to bring a positive outlook and hope to all of their failed commitments and lack of political will."

The WSSD was by no means a failure. In fact, many significant outcomes and collaborative partnerships came about as a result of the Summit. It just never made the breakthrough the world so desperately needed with respect to integrating civil society.

If the Johannesburg Summit could not do it, there is at least hope that the 2003 World Summit on the Information Society can. The WSIS will take place in two phases: the first from 10 to 12 December 2003 in Geneva, and the second from 16 to 18 November 2005 in Tunis.

According to UN figures, over 1.5 million villages worldwide remain unconnected to the information society, and one third of the world's population has never even made a telephone call, in this age of interdependence and globalization. This year's Summit plans to address this problem, more commonly referred to as the "digital divide", by bridging citizens from all corners of the world and giving them a seat at the negotiating table. And the WSIS Preparatory Committee, which met from 17 to 28 February 2003 in Geneva, took the step for which civil society had so desperately yearned. Over 2,000 leaders, including NGOs and other civil society actors, approved the proposal to create the Civil Society Bureau--a commission of their elected colleagues who will serve to facilitate civil society participation while also channelling their ideas, proposals and work to the Governments, which also have their own bureau.

The breakthrough is due, in part, to the fact that the Civil Society Bureau was created early in the game. Far too often, civil society proposals do not get addressed until a summit convenes, and that is often too late to make a real difference in the final declaration or plan of action that is adopted. The creation of the Bureau demonstrates, perhaps for the first time in human history, that civil society has made the effort and had the fortitude to organize itself on a large scale, reserve its place at the negotiating table and channel the ideas of the many NGOs and civil society networks that have burgeoned since the early 1990s.

The recent world forums of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the G-8 and the World Economic Forum, held in cities like Seattle, Genoa and Davos, have at times become sites of violent protests. Today, the Geneva and Tunis process of the WSIS shows civil society in a different light. No longer could, or should, civil society organizations be stereotyped as the "lost voices that were forced to roar"; it is now time to "hear them speak, as they pull up a chair". The Governmental Bureau, which is created at every such summit and is selected on a regional basis, at last has its civil society counterpart.

The Civil Society Bureau will function similarly to the Governmental Bureau, interacting frequently with each other and making the procedural decisions that form the structure and scope of the Information Society Summit.

What are the real reasons for strengthening civil society participation at UN conferences? First, civil society, or "the people", should be able to participate in discussions on issues that directly affect them. After all, it is the people living at the local level who are affected most by poverty, underdevelopment, violence, environmental degradation, etc. Today, however, Governments and international organizations are increasingly turning to civil society because of what it has to offer in return. In recognition of this, the WSIS Civil Society Bureau, which is divided among approximately 20 representative groups, has decided to designate a seat for "think tanks". These are defined as interdisciplinary research-based institutes and foundations from around the world that offer knowledge, expertise, research, networking capability, policy analysis, methods and formulation, platforms for debate, and resources and services for other civil society institutions, groups and stakeholders. Representatives of think-t ank organizations at the WSIS have formed a network intended to supplement the negotiations and substantive discussions, as well as to participate in making procedural decisions on the Bureau itself.

This network of think tanks should be seen strategically by civil society. Governments have long collaborated with well-respected think tanks at the domestic level in order to enrich their government delegation's capacity to participate and negotiate the respective issues on a summit's agenda. It is to be hoped that civil society and the private sector will also reach out to and collaborate with think tanks prior to the WSIS. This could even be considered an opportunity to help bridge civil society and Governments.

WTO is also making an effort to work with civil society and the private sector by inviting representatives to WTO events and seminars. On 22 February 2003, it organized a Symposium on Trade and Competition Policy, where trade specialists, government representatives and civil society convened in Geneva to address this particular topic. The civil society representatives there decided to set up the International Network of Civil Society Organizations on Competition (http://cuts.org/incsoc.htm), the principal purpose of which is to connect research and advocacy organizations since, according to the conclusions reached at the Symposium, "advocacy organizations need sound knowledge of the issues in order to effectively promote their cause or mission to Governments".

The phenomenon of facilitating civil society participation is undergoing a drastic transformation. Whether it be at the United Nations, WTO or the WSIS, this world of sovereign States and elected leaders is looking to citizens at the local level to contribute their knowledge, what is commonly referred to as "human capital".

Perhaps this transformation is simply the result of a paradigm shift from the industrial society to the information society, where the Internet has given citizens the ability to remain connected and apprised of issues at the same speed as it has our elected officials and UN representatives. What is next? We shall see.

In any case, the Civil Society Bureau should be considered part of the paradigm shift to an information society, making it that much more appropriate to have been proposed and agreed to at the WSIS. The increasing respect for and willingness to include civil society which has been exhibited by Governments has led to this concrete breakthrough. Ten years ago, Governments would not have agreed to convene their bureau meetings with a civil society bureau. However, it is happening today, but not without extreme challenges. In fact, the idea of a civil society bureau is not fully supported or understood even by all of the civil society delegates at the WSIS. The transformation to a civil society that has "organized itself"--as opposed to one where just recently it was barraging Governments from all angles, be it in the conference room, at the negotiation table, in the corridors or on the streets--still needs a bit more time for full acceptance.

According to some NGO representatives, the new Civil Society Bureau creates a forum that is "too predictable" for Governments, which have the ability to decide when and how they will meet with civil society and, quite possibly, anticipate what will be said or presented. Certain civil society organizations also believe this makes it "easy" for Governments, giving them an advantage. On the other hand, other such organizations believe that the new Bureau acts to legitimize their voice, allowing them to speak collectively, ensuring them a place at the negotiating table and giving them a chance to propose plans and solutions.

It is important not only that the WSIS Civil Society Bureau has been created, but more so that it has come to fruition at the perfect time for the perfect summit, and done so early in the process. All too often, good ideas and initiatives are pushed to the side come summit time; the months that remain before the World Summit on the Information Society will allow civil society to strengthen the Bureau and provide a formidable institutional mechanism that will work to support, facilitate, structure and uphold the interests of civil society. Never before has something so beneficial been so easy to produce. The Civil Society Bureau is, and the people of the world are, a work in progress.

John R. Gagain Jr. is a representative to the International Organizations for the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development and also the Executive Vice-President of the United Nations Association of the Dominican Republic.