World Forum on Democracy

Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations

WORLD FORUM ON DEMOCRACY

I will be very brief. I want to thank the NGO community and civil society in general for the contribution that you are making in today's world. A new diplomacy has bought civil society into full play. When I took over as Secretary General I realized very early on that for the UN to be effective and have an impact, we must reach out and work in partnership with others. We need your commitment and partnership.

For example, I do not believe that we would have had a ban on landmines without the organizing power of the NGO community. Similarly, you have been determined to see the establishment of the International Criminal Court, and I hope that governments will ratify it, so that we will plug the missing link that allows a man to be jailed for killing one other man but not for killing thousands.

The relationship between the UN and the NGO community is not always easy. You feel that we try to control you, and you give us discomfort. But we need you to do the things that I cannot do because my bosses are governments. You are the icebreakers on many issues. You may criticize us and do things in a different way - but you are an essential partner and as long as I am the Secretary General, the doors of the UN will be open and I will listen to your ideas in fora such as the millennium summit that has taken place, the meeting planned with religious leaders in New York in August, and a meeting planned for July 26 where I will meet with the CEOs of multinationals, as well as trade union representatives, to discuss issues that arise as the multinationals operate around the world. These companies should not wait for governments to pass laws to not pollute the rivers or employ children. When I talk of partnership I mean real partnership - with all partners. Working together we can make the world a better place.

Question and answer session:

If the UN is an organization for the state sector, and Davos is an organization for the market sector, is the World Forum on Democracy the organization for the civil society sector?
Annan: if you divide it so sharply, our worlds may never meet. Even though we are an organization of governments, the ideas we exist to protect belong to you, the people. So, we must work together, we are a universal organization. In the past we limited ourselves to governments and thought that people on the outside of our organization could not understand. Now we have changed: the UN is your organization too. Business people, NGOs, trade unions, international organizations.

Taiwan was not allowed to participate at the Community of Democracies meeting because it is not a member of UN. Can you set up a committee to study this at the coming session? Annan: I don't think so. The UN has a policy of one China, and that policy is not about to change.

Can there be any consideration by UN, and you, to initiate anything to resolve the problem in Pakistan? Annan: we have observers in Kashmir, but the parties to the conflict have to agree to mediation. We cannot impose ourselves but we can encourage that dialogue to take place.