This formidable increase in the number of NGOs has
been accompanied by a real transformation which is far
from being completed given the constant effort coming
from human rights activists in order to make their
action more professional and more technical.
It is precisely this ‘maturity’ which explains the place
they have won at the negotiations which led to the
adoption of the statute of the ICC in Rome on 17th July
1998.
It is this supplementary credibility which explains that
they have been identified and recognised as genuine
interlocutors by governmental delegations, from both the
southern and northern hemisphere countries.
At the same time, there are increasing threats limit the
role won over the years by NGOs.
Over the last few years, in the forum of the UN
Commission on human rights, NGOs have been, directly
or not, a target of draft reform propositions or socalled
‘rationalisation of procedures’. They have always
been used as perfect scapegoats by repressive regimes
which form a majority at the Commission and which use
NGO’s weaknesses as part of their diplomatic strategy
to prevent the Commission from interfering with their socalled
‘domestic’ affairs.
This whole movement necessarily implies that the
status of NGOs be progressivelly assured or even in
some cases institutionalized, under very precaucious
conditions.
NGOs have demonstrated their capacity to act as
indispensable alert signals for the international
community ; they have proved the quality of their
observations. By consolidating their position within
the international community, there may thus be a way
towards achieving greater integrity in bilateral and
multilateral relations.
William Bourdon
Secretary general of the FIDH