CRITICAL EVALUATION OF PROMOTING PARTICIPATION OF NGOs IN THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL
Abstract
Informal relationships have been
developed between the UN Security Council (SC) and non-governmental
organizations (NGOs). Some scholars and politicians have suggested that these
informal relationships should be strengthened through the provision of more formal
access mechanisms such as consultative status. On the other hand, increasing
participation by NGOs on the SC is questioned by others on the grounds of
accountability, fairness and objectivity, the
purported threat to international legal order of such participation, and the
undermining of the SC’s effectiveness. The current study critically evaluates
these reservations regarding the promotion of access for NGOs to the SC. It
examines whether or not the provision of formal access justifies these concerns,
concluding that while some reservations might be valid, they should not be
considered as insuperable obstacles. This is firstly because the SC could
develop a mechanism for granting formal access to NGOs that could address these
concerns, and secondly that, given that the SC itself already suffers from a
lack of accountability, fairness, objectivity and effectiveness, such access by
NGOs could help enhance the SC’s capacities in these areas. There is a limited
amount of literature on increasing access for NGOs to the SC, but to the best
of the author’s knowledge no study has evaluated criticisms of such access in
particular, as opposed to NGO’s participation in international organizations in
general. The present paper would therefore contribute to the literature in this
regard.
Keywords
References
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Details
Primary Language
English
Subjects
-
Journal Section
Research Article
Authors
Mehmet Halil Mustafa Bektaş
This is me
Publication Date
June 25, 2018
Submission Date
April 20, 2017
Acceptance Date
June 11, 2017
Published in Issue
Year 2018 Volume: 11 Number: 1