Civil society has been engaged in the intergovernmental negotiations (IGN) since the beginning of the year through the interactive dialogues with civil society at each session. At the beginning of the interactive dialogue on Wednesday 20 May, Ambassador Kamau, speaking on behalf of both Co-facilitators, welcomed the positive engaged with civil society, also noting that some had expressed concerns that the representation in speaking had not been as balanced as it should be. This was something that they had tried to address.
He said that the Co-facilitators were aware that some concerns have been expressed about access and that they wished to reassure civil society that they will continue to champion their access to these meetings, even at those points that might be sensitive and difficult.
Civil society had been involved throughout the OWG process, although, as he pointed out, he had had to be a little strict towards the end and to remind civil society representatives to be positive even when things were not going as they might have wished. If civil society ensures that the engagement remains positive and constructive engagement when business is difficult, access should not be a problem. At this point in time they were not sure as to how process would run, although it should be clearer by the end of the session on Friday.
He then referred to a number of alternatives. Some representatives of civil society had suggested that there should possibly be two or three civil society speakers at the end of each session, rather than a Stakeholders dialogue. He said that this has its positives and negatives, insofar as there is an attendant risk that time might run out, with Member States taking up all of the time and civil society not getting an opportunity to speak. His best advice was to retain the interactive dialogue sessions as now. But civil society organizations will have to agree among themselves and then provide some advice. Another possibility might be to have two civil society organizations or representatives from the private sector to speak on a particular issue of special importance, in a particular negotiation. At the present time he said to civil society that his advice was “to holds your horses and wait for us to find out.”
During the final session on Friday, a number of Member States called for the continued involvement of civil society. They included the European Union, the Nordic countries, Germany, Canada who also referred to young people, Australia and Mexico. This is a recognition of the role of that civil society will have to play together with other stakeholders in the implementation, follow up and review of the post-2015 development agenda. As such civil society through the Major Groups and Other Stakeholders need to be in the room for the three negotiating sessions in June and July.