Non-governmental organizations were present at the founding of the United Nations in 1945, and are referred to in Article 71 of the UN Charter. From that time on, NGOs have been a presence at the United Nations and in its ongoing work in a broad range of issues, including disarmament, human rights, sustainable development and the environment. The NGO Section of the Department of Public Information holds its Annual Orientation Programme for newly accredited NGO representatives this year on 5 and 6 February. The Programme provides an opportunity for NGO representatives to acquaint themselves with services provided by DPI and the NGO Section.

The UN Chronicle has been an information resource for the NGO community, with special features on subjects ranging from sustainable development to human rights, a regular NGO Watch column, opinion pieces and interviews. Here are some articles from past issues:

Issue 3, 2002

• UNconventional—A Point of View:
  Whose Earth Is It Anyway?"
  by Huey D. Johnson, President of the Resource Renewal Institute, winner of the 2001 UNEP Sasakawa Environment Prize. The question is how can a nation deal with a conflict like land use? Efforts at land redistribution have an uneven success record, but a completely different social approach to the landless problem has worked. Sweden's "Everyman's Right" provides a social example.

Issue 2, 2002

• Opinion: What the United Nations Should Do About our Ageing World"
  by Dirk Jarré, head of the international department of the German Association for Public and Private Welfare. NGOs are considered as critical opposite numbers, as well as natural partners of Government, in terms of policy orientation and action.
  
  
• Voices that Deserve to Be Heard"
  by NGO Working Group on Women, International Peace and Security
  "Do not think that because women wear a veil we do not have a voice", says Jamila, a refugee from Afghanistan. "When the UN is looking for leaders, look to us. Tap our networks that reach and assist women and their families. Women must be included in any peace-building to ensure peace and lasting security."

Issue 1, 2002

• School Bells from Bombshells"
  by Maha Muna, Deputy Director of the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children. In a meeting with World Bank staff held in Peshawar in December 2001, Afghan women NGOs made it clear that they were prepared to manage education, health and community development projects in Afghanistan.

Issue 3, 2001

• Globeglance: We Can Have Enough Food"
  by Salleh Mohd Nor, member of the Panel of Eminent Experts on Ethics on Food and Agriculture. Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care." Yet, almost 53 years after its adoption, millions of people are going to sleep hungry every day.

Issue 2, 2000

• Fighting for Peace: The United Nations, Sierra Leone and Human Security"
  by Lansana Gberie, formerly a journalist in Sierra Leone and now with Partnership Africa Canada (PAC) and a research associate of the Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies. Sierra Leone is a small former British colony, created at the turn of the eighteenth century as a result of a sustained intellectual and moral debate about humanitarianism and realpolitik—the abolition of the slave trade and European colonization of Africa.
  
  
• Weaving the Global Compact: Civilizing Markets"
  by Jem Bendell, editor, "Terms for Endearment: Business, NGOs and Sustainable Development"; currently with the New Academy of Business. NGO pressure is actually enabling some businesses to act in more sustainable and ethical ways without losing markets or share value. If Greenpeace didn't exist, business people would have to invent it.

Issue 1, 2000

• Villages as a Positive Force for Good Governance:
  India's Struggle against Grass-roots Corruption"
  by Bunker Roy, director of Barefoot College, Tilonia in Rajesthan, India. India is the largest democracy in the world. However, there are still millions today in the nearly 600,000 villages who are not yet on voters' lists and have no rights. There is no transparency and no accountability at the local level where it counts the most.

Issue 2, 1999

• The Chronicle Interview"
  Russell Taylor of the UN Chronicle spoke with Philip Bloomer, Acting Policy Director at OXFAM, Great Britain, on 7 June 1999 about how cooperation and coordination between the United Nations and NGOs in the field could be improved.

Issue 3, 1998

• NGOwatch: The Partnership Weave"
  by Tony Hill, Coordinator, United Nations Non-governmental Liaison Service, Geneva. In some ways, it could be argued that the turning point in United Nations perceptions and attitudes towards non-governmental organizations was the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development and its preparatory process (1990-1992).

These stories and more can be found at UN Chronicle Online at www.un.org/chronicle.

The UN Chronicle print edition is published by the United Nations Department of Public Information in English and French, and co-published in Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish. It is not an official record; the views expressed in individual articles do not necessarily imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations.

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