Panel of Eminent Persons on United Nations-Civil Society Relations
Meetings of the Panel
Note of Panel Meeting 29-30 March, New York UN Headquarters
Of the 12 panel members, 8 were present, 1 participated via conference call and 3 were not able
to attend due to personal and scheduling conflict reasons.
This was the third and final substantive meeting of the Cardoso Panel. The main task of the meeting
was to review the draft report presented by President Cardoso for the Panel’s comments. The draft
report was prepared on the basis of the Panel’s consultation meetings held from summer of 2003
through February 2004, the inputs made to the panel by UN agencies and civil society leaders, Panel
members’ own observations as well as the decisions taken on priority areas and recommendations at
its second meeting (Geneva, December).
The Panel members welcomed the content of the draft report and were in agreement with most of the
nearly 30 recommendations it contained. The draft report covers the following areas of priority for
UN-civil society improvements:
- UN’s role as a convener
- Multi-stakeholder partnerships
- Country level focus
- Security Council and civil society
- Engagement with elected constituencies
- Accreditation and access issues
- Staffing and resource related recommendations
- Issues related to global leadership
The Panel agreed on the following time table for April through June 2004:
- A final draft of the Panel report will be sent to the Secretary-General’s office for advance review at the end of April 2004.
- The final report will be submitted formally to the Secretary-General in mid-May by President Cardoso
- A public release by the Secretary-General is expected in late June at UN Headquarters
Once the final report is submitted to the Secretary General the Panel as such will cease to exist. However, the Panel members are committed to supporting UN-Civil Society engagement issues through their professional work and networks they are engaged with. The Panel secretariat will continue servicing the process through June 2004 and inquiries can be directed to civilsocietypanel@un.org until the end of that month.