Concern about changes in UN-NGLS

Following the non-renewal of the contract of Anita Nayar as head of the Non-Governmental Liaison Service of the United Nations, the Coordinating Committee of Social Watch expressed its concern. See the letter below.

TO: Layla Alyanak, Chair, Inter-Agency Advisory Group (IASG) of UN-NGLS

CC: Amina Mohammed, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Post-2015 Development Planning
Helen Clark, UNDP Administrator
Mukhisa Kituyi, UNCTAD Secretary General
Olav Kjørven, Special Adviser to the UNDP Administrator on the Post-2015 Development Agenda
H.E. John W. Ashe, President of the General Assembly
Thomas Gass, UN DESA
Beth Peoch, Officer-in-Charge of UN-NGLS

Dear members of the IASG,

The undersigned, members and former members of the international Coordinating Committee of Social Watch, have received with great concern the news of the non-renewal of the contract of UN-NGLS Chief, Anita Nayar and the subsequent resignation of Kathryn Tobin in solidarity with her.

Ms. Nayar has a solid reputation and is widely seen as an effective liaison between the United Nations and civil society constituencies around the world. She has worked tirelessly to restore confidence in UN-NGLS’s capacity to meet it’s mission of promoting meaningful civil society engagement in UN processes at a time of increasing skepticism and disillusionment.

In one year of leading NGLS, Ms. Nayar re-positioned this Service in its function of helping NGOs, particularly those not based in New York, to link with the United Nations. In that role she has developed and facilitated the meaningful participation mechanisms of many who might otherwise have been excluded or absent in the current discussions around the follow-up of Rio+20 and the post-2015 development framework.

Ms. Nayar emphasized civil society work in the regions and highlighted the contributions and centrality of global South CSOs to development processes. She brought leadership, guidance and vision to NGLS and the central role of South-based movements and civil society. Her appointment and the results of her work has been viewed as an appropriate answer by the UN system to the request many of us had formulated for an active and trusted liaison between the UN system and NGOs, particularly those rooted in developing countries.

We are aware of the financial and managerial difficulties that all UN work is subject to and we understand that NGLS has an unusual position in the UN map as an inter-agency service. That said, given the proven record of Ms. Nayar in her position and her consistent commendations by NGOs, other UN agencies and donors alike, we would strongly recommend that a prompt solution be found to the circumstances that did not allow for a proper renewal of her contract, so that she can soon return to her vital functions.

That would be of justice to Ms. Nayar's performance but, even more important, would rebuild trust and communication channels between the UN and civil society in a moment when the future of the UN is being shaped in several key simultaneous decision-making processes.

yours,

Tanya Dawkins, executive director of the Global-Local Links Project, Miami, USA
Leonor Briones, Social Watch - Philippines
Abdulnaby Alekry, Social Watch-Bahrein (BTS, BHRS, AWS. NWS, BWU, BWU, BYS)
Iara Pietrikovsky, INESC, Brasilia, Brazil
Jens Martens, Global Policy Forum, Bonn, Germany
Kate McInturff, Senior Researcher, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Canada
Yao Graham, Third World Network - Africa, Accra, Ghana
Ziad Abdel Samad, Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND), Beirut, Lebanon
Roberto Bissio, international secretariat of Social Watch, Montevideo, Uruguay