Independent Diplomat

MEET THE PARTIES

The ‘Meet the Parties' initiative is Independent Diplomat's first thematic, non-client-based project.  Launched in March 2008 (under the former title ‘Universal Right of Address'), the project is based on the principle that all parties to disputes on the Security Council agenda should be given a chance to put their concerns directly to Council, including state and non-state actors alike.  By improving the Council's working methods in this way, the project aims to enhance the transparency and quality of the Council's decision-making.

Photo: UN Photo/Evan Schneider.

How would ‘Meet the Parties' meetings be arranged?

To improve communication between the Council and affected parties, ID is proposing to facilitate the hosting of a rolling series of informal and private ‘Meet the Parties' meetings between Council members and parties to disputes on the Council agenda, including non-state parties. 

‘Meet the Parties' meetings would be held outside the UN and in advance of the Council's formal consideration of particular agenda items and UN mission mandate renewals.  The meetings would allow affected parties to brief Member States on their situations and perspectives, and allow them to respond to any questions Member States may have.

The need for ‘Meet the Parties' meetings

While there are calls for a range of reforms of the UN, and the Security Council in particular, there is widespread frustration within and outside the UN at the closed and secretive nature of decision-making in the UN Security Council.

Officially, the Security Council interacts only with UN Member States and UN officials, and, on rare occasions if it chooses, states parties to disputes on its agenda.  As a result, there have been numerous calls for the Security Council to take account of broader views and key relevant perspectives.  In the 2005 World Summit Outcome, heads of state called for the Council ‘...to increase the involvement of States not members of the Council in its work, as appropriate, enhance its accountability to the membership and increase the transparency of its work'.  Indeed various reports of the UN Secretary General and others (see additional resources below) have encouraged the Council to deepen its contacts with parties to disputes in order to gain a better understanding of the issues before it.

There is a clear need for the Council to hear, consider and take account of the concerns and aspirations of affected populations.  The people whose fate is discussed in the Council are very rarely invited to put their point of view or to hear directly the views of the Council.  This is not only unfair, but it often leads to disconnected and poorly informed decision-making.  More inclusive participation is essential to account for the changing nature of disputes on the Council agenda, which increasingly involve non-state actors.

‘Meet the Parties' meetings are intended to provide a useful service to the Council and all Member States as a regular forum to enhance consultation with parties affected by the Council's decisions and processes, while also opening up the work of the Council to a broader constituency.

ID has discussed its initiative with a broad range of Governments and non-government actors, and has found considerable support for the concept, particularly from Member States concerned with improving the transparency and inclusiveness of the Council's working methods.

Further background

There is some limited precedent for direct engagement by the UN Security Council with parties to conflicts, including with non-state actors.  For example, Council ambassadors have in recent years undertaken sporadic visits to countries and regions under discussion in the Council, often meeting with both government and non-government parties to conflicts, as well as civil society actors.  Invariably, these missions have been helpful in deepening the Council's understanding of the conflict concerned.

Additionally, so-called "Arria formula" meetings are occasionally used as an informal forum for engaging with non-state actors and specialized non-governmental organizations.  In his 2005 ‘Report on Conflict Prevention, particularly in Africa', the Secretary-General called on the Council to ‘increase its use of the Arria formula or similar arrangements for broad informal discussion'.  However Arria meetings are only rarely called, and only at the request of individual Council members on issues where they have a specific concern or interest.  There is no general or regular arrangement for Council members to meet the parties to conflicts.

For example, since 1999, Kosovo's democratically-elected government has been accepted as a legitimate interlocutor by governments and international organisations. However, whenever the UN Security Council met to discuss the situation in Kosovo, the province's leaders were not allowed to participate - even in open or "public" meetings of the Council.  While countries - from Algeria to Zimbabwe - are often allowed to contribute to the debate, the elected representatives of the Kosovo people were confined to spectator seats, and prevented from raising questions or responding to statements relating to relevant UN reports under discussion.  Kosovo's representatives were allowed to address the Security Council only when the UN final status process drew to a close, and only on a ad-hoc basis with the support of several P5 Members.  Independent Diplomat's initiative seeks to establish regular contact of this kind as the rule, rather than the exception.