The Current State of Chinese NGOs’ Participation in UN Activities

Jin Biao

The Current State of Chinese NGOs’ Participation in UN Activities

Jin Biao

By attending UN activities, Chinese non-governmental organizations (NGO) have made considerable achievements in the fields of environmental protection, welfare promotion for the disabled, AIDS control and prevention and so on. Despite these efforts which promoted China’s soft power, however, Chinese NGOs are still in an early stage of development, with their roles restricted by many factors. How to overcome these obstacles and increase the visibility and functionality of Chinese NGOs on international arena has become an urgent issue to be addressed immediately.

I

Chinese NGOs’ involvement in UN activities began relatively late. It was only in early 1990s that Chinese NGOs started to take part in UN activities for the first time. However, with the inception of the new millennium, Chinese NGOs’ UN participation began to take off. As a result, by July 2010, a total of 26 NGOs from Chinese mainland have obtained UNESCO consultative statuses (please refer to the table for details). So far, Chinese NGOs with UNESCO consultative statuses are actively involved in UN activities in many fields.

Table: List of Chinese NGOs with UNESCO Consultative Statuses

(CIPRA) China Association for NGO Cooperation (CANC) 2007 Special China NGO Network for International Exchanges (CNNIE) 2008 General All-China Environment Federation (ACEF) 2009 Special The Chinese Association of Vocational Education (CAVE) 2010 Special

In the field of development, Chinese NGOs participated in UN activities primarily by attending meetings. For example, in September 2001, China Society for Promotion of the Guangcai Program (CSPGP) participated in an international symposium in Bangkok on community development and poverty relief organized by UN Economic and Social Council and UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. On that meeting, CSPGP introduced the experiences and achievements of Chinese NGOs and private sectors in poverty relief. Since then, more and more Chinese NGOs have shown up on UN meetings. For instance, besides CSPGP, the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) and several other Chinese NGOs attended the international fund raising conference and NGO forum in Mexico in 2002. On this meeting, Chinese NGOs expressed their views on the necessity and urgency for the establishment of a new, fair and just international political and economic order to help with poverty relief and development for all countries. While highlighting the progresses achieved by China after the Reform, they also stressed that despite the huge progresses made in improving people’s livelihood, China’s per capital GDP still ranked below many countries and China still remained a developing country. Another case is China Association of Women Entrepreneurs (CAWE). CAWE has been present on the meetings of UN Council on Sustainable Development since 2007. These NGOS, by intro-ducing China’s policies to the world, have greatly facilitated the exchanges between China and foreign countries at non-governmental levels. Apart from NGOs with consultative statuses, NGOs without UN consultative statuses intensified their cooperation with the UN too. For example, the UN Education for Sustainable Development Program China Network (ESD-C) was officially launched on July 16th, 2006 to promote the UN Program of “Decade of Education for Sustainable Development” in China. Co-sponsored by Chinese individuals, 78 Chinese NGOs and some educational institutes such as“Friend of Nature”, ESD-C sets the creation of educational networks and constructive cooperation mechanisms of sustainable development for the common goal of the UN. In this aspect, ESD-C has received strong supports from UNESCO and some international NGOs.

In the field of human rights protection, Chinese NGOs managed to exchange and cooperate with the UN as well. For example, in June 2007, China NGO Network for International Exchanges (CNNIE), together with the NGO liaison office of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, co-sponsored a Second Conference of UN-NGO-IRENE/Asia Pacific called “Eliminating Poverty and Hunger, Responsibility and Role of the Civil Society”. More than 60 representatives belonging to 38 NGOs from Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam and China attended the meeting. By the same token, China International Exchange Association (CIEA) sponsored the UN-NGO-IRENE Conferences on UN Millennium Development Goals in five consecutives years. China Association for Preservation and Development of Tibetan Culture (CAPDTC) made the third case: in September 2008, UN Commission on Human Rights, in preparation for its “Human Rights Situation in China” Universal Periodic Review, invited many international NGOs to comment on China’s human rights conditions. In response, CAPDTC delivered two reports to the commission entitled “50 Years of Great Change in the Human Rights Situation in Tibet” and “The Use, Inheritance and Development of the Tibetan Language in Tibet” respectively. These two reports introduced to the international community the huge progresses in Tibetan human rights conditions over the past fifty years as well as the great achievements in Tibetan culture preservation and development. For this, these two reports were well received and highly appreciated by the Office of UN High Commissioners for Human Rights. In consideration that NGOs usually enjoy a high level of credibility in international communities, especially in developed countries, introducing the achievements of Tibetan economic and social development to the world through the conduit of NGOs not only helped the world understand the current state of Tibetan development better, but also eliminated misunderstandings and exposed the deceitful propaganda of Tibetan separatist forces in their attempts to mislead the international public opinions. The fourth case concerns the Durban Review Conference of the UN World Conference against Racism held in Geneva from April 21stto 24th2009. The meeting was an attempt to review and evaluate the implementation of the “Durban Declaration and Program of Action” passed in 2001 in Durban. Having realized their own potentials, CIEA and CAPDTC dispatched a joint delegation to the meeting and delivered very impressive and fruitful presentations.

When it comes to the field of welfare promotion for the disabled, we can hardly refrain from mentioning China Disabled Persons’ Federation (CDPF) which has cooperated with UNICEF for five periods (each period lasts 4 years) in supporting Chinese disabled children’s survival, protection and development. The first three periods (from 1988 to 2000) focused primarily on the rehabilitation of disabled children, mainly by showcasing, promoting and spreading proven rehabilitation practices to community rehabilitation facilities across the country. The fourth period (from 2001 to 2005) focused on the improvement of disabled children’s living and education conditions. Starting from the fourth period, the scope of cooperation with the UN was expanded to cover not only promotion of disabled children’s welfare and rehabilitation at grass-root levels, but also joint missions such as nationwide survey, integrated education research for disabled children, social guidance and advocacy, etc. Within this framework, UNICEF has been supporting the Disabled Children’s Program under the Second National Sample Survey for the Disabled since 2005. The theme of the fifth cooperation period (from 2006 to 2010) was called “knowledge and legislation”. As the name implies, cooperation here concerns the following aspects: conducting full-range research and survey on the disabled children’s conditions based on the findings of the Second National Sample Survey for the Disabled; launching related surveillance system for more in-depth research and studies; summarizing and analyzing existing Chinese laws concerning disabled children and identifying the discrepancies between Chinese laws and new international standards to make future legislations consistent with international standards; advocating for the welfare of disabled children and creating social environments favorable to self-confidence building and easier integration into society. In recent year, although aids from international communities to China were declining, UNICEF’s contributions to Chinese disabled children’s cooperative programs were increasing year by year. This shows that Chinese NGOs in the UN programs have not only secured precious developmental resources for China, but also helped the country to solve concrete problems.

In the field of environmental protection, Chinese NGOs cooperated with the UN in various forms as well, attending meetings, organizing exhibitions and so on. In February 2006, at the invitation of UN Environment Program (UNEP), All-China Environment Federation participated in the 7thGlobal NGO Forum and the 9thUNEP Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum in Dubai as an observer. It was the first time that a Chinese environmental NGO was seen on a global NGO forum. However, when the 60thAnnual UN DPI/NGO Conference on global climate change was held in New York in September 2007, twelve Chinese NGOs, including CIEA and China Association for Science and Technology (CAST), attended the meeting. Taking the opportunity, CIEA organized a photo exhibition in the UN Building called“Environmental Initiatives of Chinese NGOs”. Meanwhile, CAST hosted a lunchtime seminar successfully. Focusing on China related ideas and opinions purely from the perspectives and standpoints of NGOs, these activities were the first attempts by Chinese NGOs to host forums within the UN framework. Besides, it was also the only Asian application approved by the UN by that time. Soon after that, there came another case: in December 2009, the UN Climate Change Conference was convened in Copenhagen to discuss greenhouse gas reduction and global warming relief. Close to 100 state leaders, more than 8,000 governmental officials from 192 countries, 15,000 NGO representatives and more than 3,000 media professionals were invited to attend the meeting. Chinese NGOs such as CIEA, CAST, Association of Former Diplomats of China (AFDC) and Beijing NGO Association for International Exchanges (BNAIE) all applied to attend the NGO sessions of this conference. During the meeting, these NGOs not only expressed Chinese people’s ideas and perspectives on climate change, but also effectively supported the Chinese Government’s initiatives on this issue.

In the field of AIDS control and prevention, Chinese NGOs’ attendance of related UN conferences proved to be effective as well. Through these meetings, Chinese NGOs’ AIDS fighting endeavors were publicized to the world. For example, in 2002, Chinese Foundation for Prevention of STD and AIDS (CFPSA) attended the 14thInternational AIDS Conference as the only Chinese NGO. However, when the 15thInternational AIDS Conference was held in Bangkok in 2004, a total of seven Chinese NGOs came to the stage, including CFPSA, China Population Communication Center (CPCC), China Association of STD and AIDS Prevention and Control (CASAPC), etc. On the conference, CPCC, in association with CFPSA, CASAPC, China Family Planning Association (CFPA) and others, successfully set up a booth to promote “China Red Ribbon Campaign” and publicize Chinese NGOs’ AIDS fighting efforts and achievements. Exhibiting the open posture of Chinese NGOs in their AIDS fighting initiatives, CPCC even used the opportunity to cooperate with “Population and Community Development Association of Thailand”(PDA) in launching a “Sino-Thai Red Ribbon AIDS Fighting Joint Campaign”. Two years later, when the 16thInternational AIDS Conference was convened in Toronto in 2006, even more Chinese NGOs showed up, bringing to the meeting close to 200 representatives. In the meanwhile, the 60thUN General Assembly High Level Meeting on AIDS convened in New York in June 2006 witnessed the debut of five additional AIDS related NGOs from China, namely Beijing Aizhixing Health Education Institute, Mangrove Support Group, Information Clearinghouse for Chinese Gays and Lesbians, Beijing Dongzhen-Nalan Cultural Communication Co., Consultation for AIDS Health Service of Shenyang. Additionally, a special online forum called “UN Special Session on AIDS and Civil Society Forum” initiated by UNAIDS, China Red Ribbon Network and other NGOs with the support of UN Development Program was launched to call more people’s attention on AIDS and appeal for the implementation of a comprehensive AIDS control mechanism by 2010. In recognition of the tremendous efforts made by Chinese NGOs in the AIDS control area, in 2006, the UN Development Program granted a“Red Ribbon Award” and 5,000 US dollars to a Chinese NGO called “AIDS Care”. This was the first award received by a Chinese NGO from the UN in the field of AIDS control and prevention.

II

It was only after the adoption of the reform and opening-up policy that Chinese NGOs began to develop and attend international activities. Since then, the rapid growth of Chinese economy had created favorable economic conditions for the development of Chinese NGO, just as the deepening of China’s political system reform, transformation in governmental functions as well as the improvement of related laws and regulations had created good political environments for NGO development. Meanwhile, spurred by elites of various social classes, Chinese public’s welfare and social participation awareness was gradually waken, This benefited the growth of NGO as well. As China’s international influence and frequencies of international exchanges increased, Chinese NGOs felt it increasingly important and necessary to attend UN activities. As a result, they upgraded their international exchange frequencies and agenda setting capabilities, shifted their participation forms from simple hearings and selective public speeches to exhibitions, meetings, presentation and reports, and consequently made their presences perceived, their voices heard and their unique roles recognized by the international community. On account of these changes, it is believed that Chinese NGOs should enjoy more growth space in the future that matches their larger roles in international affairs.

Despite the progresses, however, when compared with NGOs of developed countries, Chinese NGOs in their current state are still small in scale, few in number, weak in power, narrow in scope, limited in international participation and incomplete in functions. This means that Chinese NGOs are still at the initial stage of their development. Generally speaking, Chinese NGOs’ participation in UN activities is restricted by the following factors:

Firstly, Chinese NGOs are socially under-recognized. Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Chinese society had undergone dramatic changes, especially over the past three decades since the adoption of the reform and opening-up policy.With the adoption of plentiful overseas ideas, institutions, mechanisms and practices in political, economic, cultural and social spheres, Chinese society gradually evolved into an open and diversified society. Despite such changes, however, NGO as an idea and an institutional concept has not been widely recognized and completely accepted by the Chinese society. In other words, there has been a lack of comprehensive and rational understanding of NGOs and their functions, especially spontaneous NGOs with neither governmental backgrounds nor connections. NGOs without UN consultative statuses seldom have opportunities to attend UN activities. In consideration of the greater restrictions to their capability and scope, even though they did have chances to attend UN activities, they could probably only afford those held in China. In fact, that China has not formed a social environment benign to the healthy growth of NGOs means Chinese NGOs are largely short of space and support for growth and development. This has definitely reduced their roles in social development and foreign exchanges.

Secondly, Chinese NGOs are generally short of funding. Chinese NGOs’ fund raising capabilities are generally very weak and their fund raising channels are limited.They are usually funded either by government or by international NGOs. In comparison, in countries where NGO environments are positive, NGOs enjoy abundant funding sources. According to the findings of a Brookings international study on non-profit organizations across 42 countries, 49% of NGOs’revenues should originate from service charges, 40% from governmental funding and 11% from charitable donations. Since recognition of NGOs in China is limited, funding from social and governmental sectors is extremely scarce. Moreover, NGOs as non-profit organizations can hardly generate revenues from paid services. Compared with NGOs with limited governmental funding, NGOs without government funding are even more miserable financially. Their subsistence and operation are usually totally dependent on limited UN funding or some international NGOs’ poverty relief, environmental protection and disabled support projects in China with minimal funding. This has, to a large extent, restricted Chinese NGOs’ abilities to attend international activities.

Thirdly, Chinese NGOs are short of qualified human resources.To attend UN activities, NGOs need experts and professionals who are familiar with UN business models and NGO activity procedures, who possesses professional knowledge and international language skills and who are willing to sacrifice. However, almost all Chinese NGOs are facing the problem of lacking qualified human resources and related training facilities. Due to shortage of professionals, most Chinese NGOs are experiencing difficulties in exchange and professional activities. Their members, except their founders or leaders who might be with stronger abilities and broader international visions, are usually limited in profes-sional experiences/skills and less competent to complete their jobs. The other way round, the unsatisfying working conditions of Chinese NGOs mean that it is very difficult for Chinese NGOs to recruit and retain high-end professionals. Existing employees of these NGOs are staying mostly out of their beliefs, sense of social responsibility and sacrificing spirit. Low social recognition and inadequate economic benefits have therefore become insurmountable obstacles to people who want to join NGOs. Lack of human resources constitutes an important factor for the under-development of Chinese NGOs.

Chinese NGOs’ participation in UN activities means a lot to China. Their participation not only enhances China’s soft power, but also facilitates Sino-foreign exchange and cooperation. In addition, as supplements to official diplomacy, NGOs are conducive to China’s overall integration into international society and creation of a new international governance regime. As a permanent member of UN Security Council, China needs not only governmental efforts but also private sectors’ participation. Good combination of governmental and private resources shall allow China to play a bigger role in the UN framework. In a certain sense, supporting and strengthening NGOs conforms to every country’s interests, as NGOs can play a larger role in global governance. Therefore, to promote their national interests, countries in the world and their governments need to pay more attention to NGOs. In light of this, how to value and support NGOs according to international trends, how to help them solve their difficulties and problems, and how to create favorable environments allowing them a higher visibility and a bigger role have become imminent issues that need to be addressed as soon as possible.

Dr. Jin Biao, Lecturer, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Beijing Language and Culture University.