ABSTRACT
This chapter will outline how non-governmental organizations gain access to the diplomatic processes in the United Nations and what they are able to do to influence the outcomes. The first success of NGOs was achieved in 1945 at the San Francisco conference that agreed the text of the UN Charter. They lobbied for the inclusion of a new article, to obtain the right for NGOs to be involved in the formal proceedings of the UN. The result, Article 71, was a radical innovation, in providing for NGOs to participate in intergovernmental diplomacy. On the other hand, it was cautious and limited, in vaguely referring to consultation and in restricting the role of NGOs to the work of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). We will start by examining how ECOSOC established an NGO Committee to handle applications for consultative status and to supervise the consultative arrangements. It will again be necessary to refer to the three versions of the Statute on Arrangements for Consultation with Non-Governmental Organizations, originally agreed in 1950 and amended in 1968 and 1996.1 We will see that since 1970 a wider range of activities has been developed, going far beyond the official procedures listed in the Statute. In addition, NGO participation has been extended beyond ECOSOC to all parts of the UN system. The reader may wish to skip one or more of the sections on NGO access to the less well-known parts of the system, such as the operational programs, the global conferences, the treaty bodies, or the specialized agencies. However, a comprehensive overview has been given, in order to sustain the claim there is access throughout the system and NGOs have some influence on all policy questions.
