ABSTRACT
Non-governmental organizations (NGO) play a vital role in the United Nations (UN) work. This chapter deals with the three components of that statement: the UN, NGOs and the role of NGOs in the UN. An NGO is an association of private individuals which has non-profit-making aims and which is separate from a government. The growth of NGOs has been one of this century’s main political phenomena. NGOs are not new – especially in the religious area. The UN Charter put ‘non-governmental organizations’ into the international political vocabulary. NGOs have been accorded an unprecedented international status, they have access to UN information and UN meetings, they can inject their own expertise into the UN’s deliberations and they can network with other NGOs to bring issues before their own governments. In 1947, 18 NGOs which had ECOSOC Consultative Status met together to devise ways of enhancing NGO participation in the UN system.
