Introduction
On 21 March, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan released his report entitled In Larger Freedom: Towards Development, Security and Human Rights for All (A/59/2005). In Larger Freedom will provide the framework for discussion during the High-level Plenary of the 60th session of the General Assembly scheduled from 14-16 September, more informally known as the Millennium Summit+5. In Larger Freedom draws, partly, on the report of the High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility (A/59/565), the Millennium Project’s report Investing in Development: A Practical Plan to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals and the report of the High-level Panel on UN-Civil Society Relations We the Peoples: Civil Society, the United Nations and Global Governance (A/58/817).
In line with the Secretary-General’s wish that his report be widely disseminated and debated, NGLS, on 21 March, distributed it electronically worldwide to some 7,000 NGOs on its listserv, inviting recipients to comment on the report by 30 April. NGLS received 128 responses by the deadline ranging in length from a paragraph or two to submissions of many pages providing detailed recommendations on different aspects of the Secretary-General’s report. All of the submissions can be found on NGLS’s website (www.un-ngls.org/sg-report-NGOs-comment.htm).
In compiling this informal summary in time for the Informal Interactive Hearings of the General Assembly with NGOs, civil society organizations and the private sector, to be held in New York from 23-24 June 2005, NGLS has tried to produce an overview that reflects the overall thrust of the commentaries received, and that will support a constructive exchange at that meeting. We
have therefore taken into account the relevance, pertinence and competence of the submissions, all of which have been thoroughly reviewed by several of NGLS staff.
It proved impossible to make reference to all submissions in the text of the compilation. At the same time we have decided not to mention any particular organization in the text but reference their inputs at the end. A listing of all NGOs featured in the text is provided in Annex 1. A listing of all NGOs that made submissions is provided in Annex II. The report, therefore, represents a large number of snapshots on NGO thinking on a range of issues raised by the Secretary-General’s report. It is offered in the hope that it will further inform and enrich discussion and debate up to the September Summit. A striking aspect of this exercise was the constructive and positive tone of respondents who were overwhelmingly supportive of the Secretary-General’s
initiative and their opportunity to contribute to it.
|
Related documents
- 752Kb ~ 4 min (63 pages)
