Liaison Newsletter > LIAISON Vol. 2, No. 5, September 1998 - Articles

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The Civil Society and the United Nations Project
- a world class study along with a set of recommendations
by Angus Archer, UNA Director of development

In mid August, UNA-Canada received a second phase grant from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation in Flint, Michigan, this time of US$100,000, to continue work on a study on "civil society and the United Nations". Spurred on by Kofi Annan and Maurice Strong’s frequent references to civil society in the Track II UN Reform report, and viewed as preparatory input into at least two world conferences, this "civil society and the United Nations" project is a first in terms of both scope and intellectual level for UNA/Canada.

What do we mean by "civil society" anyway? According to our feasibility study (funded by Mott to the tune of $30,000 and completed last year) civil society is the "third sector" - government being the first and business the second. It includes non-governmental organizations, trade association, business and professional organizations, religious institutions, universities and research institutions, mass movement organizations and voluntary groups. Its role, vis-à-vis the United Nations, is built into the Preamble "We the peoples ..." and Article 77 of the Charter and has been expanded in recent years, particularly through civil society participation in and around the series of UN mega conferences. The Annan/Strong report encourages an even more significant and permanent interaction.

UNA’s study will produce a 250 page, twelve chapter book will have both the history of UN/civil society relations and recommendations for future relations. One of the two forthcoming conferences is titled "World Civil Society Conference" and is likely to take place in Montreal in mid-November, 1999. The other (also mentioned in the Track II UN Reform report) is to be a "Peoples Millennium Assembly" in New York in May/June, 2000.

An advisory committee has met on this civil society project in April and June of this year and has been helping UNA- Canada Executive Director Harry Qualman and project director Angus Archer to engage a team of three editors and four writers to prepare the book. John Foster (University of Saskatchewan Law School) will be editor in chief.

The publication is due to go to a publisher in May, 1999 and to be published by September 1999.

Angus Archer August 31, 1998