The Wellspring

Model United Nations conferences are great for learning about relevant international issues and the various national perspectives on them, but generally not that great if you want to learn how negotiations at the United Nations and its specialised agencies actually operate. While it’s useful to be familiar with the formal UN rules of procedure, the reality is that much negotiation and decision-making happens behind the scenes, away from the formal, and largely declaratory, process.

With more and more young people getting involved in these processes, it’s useful to understand how they really work. Here are few tips that I’ve gathered from my participation, along with some resources that you might find useful in helping plan your participation.

Part 1 explains how UN negotiations work. Part 2 will give you some pointers on how to maximise your participation.

Composition and participation
UN agencies are governed by groups of member states, known variously as Executive Boards or Governing Councils. They usually meet yearly or every two years, and discuss the budget and work plan, along with any pertinent issues that change from meeting to meeting. Apart from that, there is considerable variation in how these governing bodies are composed: the number of member nations, whether they are static, elected or rotated, and how often they meet is determined by each governing body themselves.

The meetings of many governing bodies involve more than just members:

• The preparatory work for these meetings is prepared by the permanent representatives to the agency, which deal with each nation’s day-to-day participation.
• Non-government organisations may participate in a preceding Civil Society Forum, to negotiate a common NGO position on important issues. They may also be accredited to the main governing body meeting as observers, where, whilst they cannot speak (unless invited by the Chair), they can lobby national delegations for action.
• Observer status may also be accorded to non-member nations, intergovernmental organisations and other United Nations agencies. Despite this status, many meetings actually allow observer nations to make statements (called an ‘intervention’) during negotiations. Observers are unable to vote, but many governing bodies rarely vote anyway, preferring instead to make decisions by consensus.
• Towards the end of the meeting, a high-level segment may be scheduled, in which relevant national Ministers (or in rare cases, heads of government) may participate. Their purpose is two-fold: firstly, to network and co-ordinate international environmental policy, and to generally discuss issues of interest with their counterparts internationally; secondly, to deal with any issues left over from the primary meeting. It is thought that Ministers, with greater political freedom, can move with more leeway and bring more options to the table in an attempt to get a resolution.

Participants with different status often wear accreditation badges of different colour.

Documentation
There are two main types of documentation dealt with during meetings of a governing body:

• The first is an information document, labelled INF (for example, information documents for the 23rd Session of the UNEP Governing Council were labelled UNEP/GC.23/INF/…). These contain relevant supplementary information that the delegation may like to consider in their negotiations. They are the basis for discussion only, and thus do not require substantive action to be taken, and cannot be amended (even if a delegation feels that the information contained is incorrect).
• The second, more important type of document is simply labelled after the meeting at which it is used (for example, these documents for the 23rd Session of the UNEP Governing Council were labelled UNEP/GC.23/…). These require substantive action: that is, discussion, consideration and / or a decision. A number of these documents have draft decisions appended; these are prepared by the committee of permanent representatives, Secretariat, and / or Chair.

Because preparatory work will already have been completed, much of the text of a resolution or declaration will have already been resolved. This text is unbracketed. Conversely, unresolved text to be negotiated is contained within square brackets ([...]).

Caucuses
A number of nations with shared concerns may decide to work together and speak collectively. These groupings are called caucuses and there are two main kinds.

The first is policy-based, with the main groupings being:

• G77 + China (see http://www.g77.org/): Founded in 1967, this is a grouping of more than 130 developing nations.
• The EU (see http://europa.eu.int/): This tight, treaty-bound grouping encompassing most of Western Europe, much of Central Europe and, increasingly, Eastern Europe.
• JUSSCANZ (Japan, the US, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and others): A loose group of non-EU industrialised nations.

The G77 and EU habitually speak with one voice (through the President), but JUSSCANZ is a more informal grouping, and states often speak individually.

The second type of grouping is regional: Asia / Pacific, Africa, GRULAC (Group of Latin America and the Caribbean), Central / Eastern Europe and WEOG (Western Europe and Others).

The G8 (see http://www.g-8.org/), the Commonwealth (see http://www.thecommonwealth.org/) and the Arab League (see http://www.arableagueonline.org/) may also meet, though these groupings are much less solid.

Negotiation Process
The most basic forum is one where all member nations are represented. This is called the Plenary or Committee of the Whole (depending on the procedural rules adopted). In the Plenary, nations may announce their national initiatives, ask questions of other nations, and deal with the majority of procedural issues (such as congratulating the Chair on his or her election). The Committee of the Whole often deals with programmatic, administrative and budgetary issues, where discussions are often more technical and substantive. In many sessions, the differences between these two groupings are not very clear, and it will seem as if much of the agenda has simply been split into two parallel streams so as to allow for a shorter meeting.

Within both groups, the agenda may be dealt with in an order decided by the group itself.

If, in either forum, consensus cannot be reached, they may arrange for the formation of a drafting or contact group. These groups consist of the nations primarily involved with the issues being discussed; though it is customary to take note of the general, wider opinion of the forum in situations where smaller delegations cannot spare a delegate for a drafting group. The smaller drafting groups negotiate intensely for a resolution, which, if reached, is referred back to the grouping from which it was derived. It is interesting to note that much of the negotiating and lobbying happens on an informal level in the corridors and over meals. (In fact, informal groupings that meet to strategise are often called corridor groups).

As mentioned earlier, meetings often conclude with a high-level segment where Ministers, with greater political latitude, can negotiate intensely for a resolution.

On the last day of the meetings, a final, full Plenary will be held where all decisions are gavelled through in a final act of approval.

Further Information

• Further information regarding civil society participation in UN meetings can be found in the United Nations Non-Government Liaison Service’s excellent publication: Intergovernmental Negotiations and Decision Making at the United Nations: A Guide. This publication explains the governance and decision-making fora and processes of the UN system. You can download the booklet free of charge from http://www.un-ngls.org/d_making.htm.
• The United Nations Association of Canada publishes a similar (yet less comprehensive) guidebook for young people participating in international UN meetings called Navigating International Meetings: A Pocketbook Guide to Effective Youth Participation. You can download the pocketbook free of charge from http://www.unac.org/en/pocketbook/index.asp.
• For a more general look at how the UN is organised, the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has published since 1961 an annual United Nations Handbook, giving comprehensive information on the structure, aims and membership of the six principal organs, subsidiary bodies and associated bodies. The book can be ordered through your nearest NZ Embassy or High Commission for NZ$30.00. For more information, see http://www.mfat.govt.nz/Media-and-publications/Publications/index.php#hardcopy.