The Wellspring

United Nations Truth is an anonymous blog that hopes to shed some light on the day-to-day inner workings of the United Nations. It seems to have a particular interest in the Middle East peace process. While not always the most readable (some of the posts are very lengthy), content on the blog is interesting and insightful. There is even an entry about the proper way to pronounce the new Secretary-General’s name (it’s ‘bahn gee-moon’).

Visit the blog at http://www.un-truth.com/.

The World Bank and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is currently calling for entries from young people worldwide aged 18 - 25 into their International Essay Competition 2007.

They are looking for essays in English, French of Spanish of no more than 4000 words (including an abstract) explaining how corruption affects young people’s daily lives and what young people can do to overcome it.

The essays will be judged on originality, clarity and the use of thoughtful and concrete proposals/ examples. A prize of USD$5000 will be awarded, with a runner-up prize of USD$1000. All finalists will be will be invited to participate in the Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics (ABCDE) in Bled, Slovenia.

For more information and to submit an essay online, see http://www.essaycompetition.org/.

Submissions are due 15 March, 2007.

Peace Child International has created the “Be the Change!” programme to support young people under 25 years of age with small grants of US$500 - US$1,000 to get involved in local community action and development projects.

Projects must be genuinely youth-led with two experienced and committed adult mentors, and benefit the community rather than an individual need. All projects must have measures of achievement (indicators) by which projects may be evaluated. Projects may be either income-generating (funds to start up a small business and creating jobs) or non-income generating (for health, education, environmental clean-up or community improvement) social projects.

For more information and to download an application form, see http://www.peacechild.org/www/pci/index.php?id=72. Send proposals to the desk officer for your region at Peace Child International.

Applications close 31 March, 2007.

The theme for this year’s Commission for Social Development is Promoting Full Employment and Decent Work for All. The Commission will discuss issues related to social groups and have panel discussions on ageing and youth. A panel presentation of the World Youth Report 2007 will include a synopsis of the report’s main themes and findings. (The full report is expected to be released in May 2007.) This will be followed by a discussion and comments from experts on youth. The five priority areas identified in the World Youth Report 2003 will be discussed at the session of the Commission, before being forwarded for adoption by the General Assembly as a supplement to the World Programme of Action for Youth.

For further information, see http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/csd/csocd2007.htm.

To download the World Youth Report 2005, see http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unyin/wyr05.htm.

The UN World Programme of Action for Youth (UN WPAY) consists of ten priority areas identified in 1995 by the General Assembly and five newer issues that were later identified as additional priorities by the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in 2003. These are:

1. Education
2. Employment
3. Hunger and poverty
4. Health
5. Environment
6. Drug abuse
7. Juvenile delinquency
8. Leisure-time activities
9. Girls and young women
10. Full and effective participation
11. Globalization
12. Information and communication technologies
13. HIV / AIDS
14. Youth and conflict prevention
15. Intergenerational relations

As part of their 10-year review of the Programme 2005, the UN General Assembly evaluated these priorities and confirmed them, resolving to scale up investments in young people, urge for greater youth participation, develop consultative and integrated policies for young people, make youth employment a central objective of development strategies and establish a set of indicators to measure progress in implementing the Programme.

The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) has now published a guide focusing on what governments can do to fulfill the vision enshrined in the Programme.

It acknowledges a need for a new impetus to be given to the design and implementation of youth policies and programmes. Each section briefly examines the concept of each priority area and how it is experienced by young people worldwide. It looks at mechanisms and specific policies that may enhance their political, cultural and socio-economic opportunities.

The recommendations and ideas contained in the book are inspired by analyses, case studies, lessons learned and good practices documented by a wide range of sources.

For further information and to download a free copy, see http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unyin/documents/wpay_guide.pdf.

From 12 - 14 April, 2007, 400 young people from more than 50 nations around the world will attend the 1st International Meeting on Water and Youth in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The objective of the meeting is to increase commitment and to initiate action that will contribute to water sustainability, as well as to forge a network for international cooperation. For more information and to get involved, see http://www.waterandyouth.org/.

Applications close 30 January, 2007.

The 7th World Social Forum brings the world to Africa as activists, social movements, networks, coalitions and organizations from every continent will come together in Nairobi, Kenya from 20 - 25 January, 2007. From its modest origins in Porto Alegre in 2001, the World Social Forum has grown into an annual international event with participants from over 140 countries. It is a platform for civil society engagement with issues of importance to all the people of the world. This year, the WSF will focus on the theme of Another World Is Possible, placing social justice, international solidarity, gender equality, peace and defense of the environment on its agenda.

For further information, see http://www.wsf2007.org/.

As far as I know, there is no Australian delegation to the WSF, per se, with most Australian delegates independently organising their own participation. It’s thus a little difficult to get a list of names of young Australian participants.

I know that Don Maclurcan (founder of the previously-mentioned Project Australia initiative) will be attending. James Moody (founding Chairman of the International Young Professionals Foundation) has attended several previous WSFs, though I’m not sure whether he is attending this time around.

Perhaps readers might know which other young Australians might be there? Contact me or leave a comment below.

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.