26. NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATION OBSERVERS

(from "Chairman's Report of the Forty-Eighth Annual Meeting")


This issue was introduced by the Secretariat last year which expressed concern with some difficulties it was having in administering NGO participation. An extensive discussion of these issues took place this year as it had last year. The Secretariat noted that it had found a solution to one of its expressed concerns that it was having difficulties enforcing the existing procedure whereby only one representative from each registered NGO can be present in the IWC meeting. This year the Secretariat has only distributed one badge per NGO and has listed on the badge the names of all accredited members of the NGO registered for the IWC Annual Meeting.

Other concerns expressed included difficulties in verifying that NGOs actually had locations in more than three different countries as the Rules of Procedure require, and the process for admitting NGOs to IWC meetings. Many delegations expressed strong support for maintaining an open and transparent process in running the IWC meetings and facilitating the participation of NGOs. But many of the proposals discussed were deemed by some delegations to be too burdensome, either on the Secretariat or on member countries.

In addition to these issues of accreditation, the USA proposed an amendment to the Rules of Procedure to streamline the process of NGO admittance into IWC meetings. The proposal would be to amend Rule of Procedure M.2. to add the following:

'Observers eligible to attend Commission meetings may also attend meetings of such committees, and meetings of sub-committees and working groups established under paragraph 3 below.'

One delegation objected to this proposal and, in light of the diversity of views on these issues, the Finance and Administration Committee decided to recommend to the Commission that the current process regarding NGO participation be maintained, and, if necessary, reviewed again next year. This was agreed by the Commission.

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