Innovative Ideas and Procedures for Interactions between NGOs and the U.N.

"69. The Secretary-General is requested to make every effort to enhance and streamline as appropriate Secretariat support arrangements, and to improve practical arrangements on such matters as greater use of modern information and communication technology, the establishment of an integrated database of non-governmental organizations, wide and timely dissemination of information on meetings, distribution of documentation, provision of access and transparent, simple and streamlined procedures for the attendance of non-governmental organizations in United Nations meetings, and to facilitate their broad-based participation.

70. The Secretary-General is requested to make this resolution widely known, through proper channels, to facilitate the involvement of non-governmental organizations from all regions and areas of the world."

From 1996/31, Consultative relationship between the United Nations and non-governmental organizations (emphasis added)

effective use of modern information and communication technology offers remarkable opportunities to strengthen participation of non-governmental organizations (ngos) in the work of the united nations - in particular to enable more effective participation by ngos that do not have representatives in new york or geneva.

while it is important to acknowledge - and to take steps to remedy - the discrepancy in access to information and communication technology between developed and developing countries, even the relatively limited current access by ngos from developing countries has provided a dramatic improvement in access to united nations information in those countries and to participation of ngos in the work of the united nations.

technological developments have moved at such a pace that a relatively modest investment can enable very rapid capacity-building of information infrastructure in developing countries - provided that there is an appropriate enabling regulatory environment. meanwhile, the impact of such strengthening of information infrastructure will offer substantial opportunities for more effective participation from developing countries in the global economic marketplace.

the following practical arrangements are being offered as the first of several concrete steps by which modern information and communication technology can be applied to strengthen the participation of ngos in the work of the united nations. the steps presented here can be taken immediately - at virtually no cost. some subsequent recommendations may require a little more time - and more in-depth consideration by the general assembly - however all can easily be implemented by the beginning of the new millennium - and would also offer benefits to members states and their missions to the united nations.

• authorizing ngos in consultative status to have access to the comprehensive collection of united nations documents that are now available to member states on the internet in all united nations languages. a simple administrative procedure could be instituted to issue passwords to ngos wishing to take advantage of this opportunity

• establishment of listservs - automated electronic mailing lists - for the daily journal and for press releases. while these documents are currently available online, direct - and relatively advanced - access to the internet is necessary to obtain them; the establishment of the listservs would provide for automated delivery. separate listservs should be provided for each of the current categories of press releases - eg for each of the main committees of the general assembly