Members of the NGO/UNHCR Reach-Out Steering Committee met at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva on 28 February, 2000. It was the fourth meeting of the Steering Committee. The agenda and list of participants are attached. The Steering Committee met to hear reports on the progress of the Task Forces; to discuss the Bangkok and Nairobi regional Reach-Out meetings and ways to build the capacity of those regional networks; to discuss the future of “Reach-Out” and its relationship to the PARinAC process; to discuss the status of the next New York meeting; and to review a letter and materials shared by Philip Rudge, the UNHCR Reach-Out Consultant to the Corporate Sector. Dr. Elizabeth Ferris of the World Council of Churches served as NGO co-chair, and Ms. Erika Feller, Director of the Department of International Protection served as UNHCR’s co-chair together with her colleague, Mr. Tahir Ali. The next meeting will be held in Geneva, most probably on Monday, July 10.

Welcoming Remarks of Erika Feller and Elizabeth Ferris

Ms. Feller noted that the Reach Out Steering Committee is making substantive headway as evidenced by the refugee protection training project which is moving forward. She encouraged the Task Forces to work hard to produce tangible “work products” for use by the larger NGO/UNHCR community. Ms. Feller commented that the Reach Out meeting in Bangkok was not as productive as she had hoped it would be, noting that several participants were quite political and had voiced criticism of UNHCR’s perceived failures. Many other comments were very useful and the meeting ended with the agreement to name two focal points to take the process forward in the Asia and Pacific region. UNHCR offered to hire a part-time consultant to help write grant proposals in order to secure necessary resources. UNHCR has revised the agenda for the Nairobi meeting, scheduled for 10-11 April, to make it more issue-specific.

Ms. Feller also mentioned the forthcoming 50^th Anniversary of the 1951 Convention. She asked the Committee to consider various ways to commemorate the Anniversary. UNHCR will propose ideas for involving States party to the Convention.

Elizabeth Ferris commented that the Steering Committee is looking for ways to consolidate our work. She observed that we may have been too ambitious in the beginning and that we may need to drop a few activities and focus on those remaining.

Review of the Minutes of 27 September, 1999

The minutes were reviewed and adopted without amendment. The agenda for 28 February was modified to reflect Mr. Philip Rudge’s inability to provide a briefing in person. Instead, a letter and materials were distributed to the participants.

Discussion of the Task Forces

Task Force One: Sharing and Use of Sensitive Information. JRS has a new staff member who will consider how to take this process forward. She welcomes guidance from the Steering Committee. She understands her objective is to enhance the protection of asylum seekers and refugees in ways that give due sensitivity to the dignity of the individual. She will consider various questions, including: Is there an obligation to share information? Are there limitations? What is the best methodology? What about consent, especially regarding children? What about ethical questions such as the possibility of endangering those you are seeking to assist? What about collecting information that may later be used by an international tribunal or used later to discredit a witness? What about loose transmissions arrangements, particularly via email? Everyone agreed that collecting information is very different from sharing and using. Each topic should be addressed separately.

All of the Steering Committee members affirmed the importance of the research, and urged JRS to try to draft a statement of principles for general use. Since AI and HRW already have guidelines, looking at those might be a good place to start. We need a set of global guidelines for all NGOs, including those which do not routinely collect or share information.

Task Force Two: Operationalizing Protection. The Federation of RCRC Societies reported that the U.S. State Department has agreed to fund 40% of the Refugee Training Project over the next three years. Oxfam and CARE, Intl will approach DFID; the RCRC Liaison office and CARE will approach ECHO; and the Norwegian Refugee Council and the Norwegian Red Cross will approach the Norwegian government to seek additional funding. Espana con ACNUR offered to help secure funding for translating training material into the Spanish language and also to help cover costs for conducting training workshops in Latin America. A Draft Job Description for Project Manager was distributed and comments invited. The Task Force intends to go forward with recruitment as soon as possible.

SCF-USA offered to make copies of Jan Shaw’s final report regarding the protection role NGOs are playing in Kosovo. The report stresses the need for agency Headquarters to train their field staff, although some NGOs on the ground demonstrated a good awareness of protection issues. It was also noted that in Kosovo, the NGO protection liaison was co-located with UNHCR while the humanitarian information officer (funded by ICVA) was based in the information center. The two worked closely together and that arrangement appeared to be quite advantageous in terms of disseminating useful information to the NGO community.

Task Force Three: Capacity-Building and Collaboration with NGOs. ICMC distributed a summary of the NGO responses to the questionnaire presented to the participants of the Bangkok meeting. The NGOs would like basic training and information about resettlement and building a network for advocacy. ICMC plans to use the same questionnaire for the RO Nairobi meeting (English/French). On the basis of the responses gathered at those two regional meetings, ICMC will have a more representative understanding of what NGOs want in order to build capacity. ECRE suggested that NGOs might wish to adopt a “twinning” model whereby strong NGOs link with weaker NGOs in order to improve capacities.

Task Force Four: Standards-Setting Process. ICVA reported that there was an informal meeting of the Standing Committee in December. ICVA did not attend but understood that the members are considering increasing the participation of NGOs in the Standing Committee deliberations and possibly increasing the number of statements they will allow. They also explored possibilities for increasing interactive dialogue at the ExCom meetings, perhaps by arranging panel discussions.

ICVA wants to increase its role as the focal point for NGO statements and to strengthen the link between pre-ExCom and ExCom. They are also keen to strengthen the PARinAC process and maybe combine ICVA’s and PARinAC’s website. This might give NGOs from other regions a greater chance to become more active in ExCom activities and the standards-setting process. Regarding access during ExCom, Arnulv Torbjornsen suggested that the NGOs request a meeting with John Horekens and Ms. Pirko Kourola; the Chair of ExCom may be amenable, as well. Arnulv proposed that a meeting be scheduled immediately after the next Standing Committee meeting. SCHR reminded the Steering Committee members that there is a precedent for NGOs meeting with the Chair of ExCom.

HRW noted that while collaborative NGO action is good, individual NGOs can, indeed must, have independent positions at times.

Conclusions for this section: (1) The Steering Committee would like UNHCR to state its position on NGO access and participation in the ExCom process; (2) After considering various options, the NGOs should approach the governments armed with a coordinated and cohesive proposal; and (3) UNHCR will meet with NGOs to brief them on UNHCR’s draft ExCom documents.

Task Force Five: Accessions and Compliance with the 1951 Convention. AI is updating its 1997 Accessions campaign materials. AI is happy to share these materials with NGOs to use in whatever way will be most effective. The materials include ideas on how to lobby governments; whom to contact, etc. AI is also looking at implementation/ compliance, as well. They are asking governments to complete questionnaires about their policies and practices. ECRE is also working on the compliance issue.

Task Force Six: Advocacy. AI reported that they have an intern researching the issue of effective advocacy. They are reviewing past advocacy campaigns (e.g. focusing on GATT) to pull together good practices for NGOs. AI will seek to find a consultant by June to take this research farther, in consultation with UNHCR, experienced NGOs, academics, etc.

Report on the Bangkok Reach-Out Meeting; Plans for Nairobi

UNHCR reported that on balance, the Bangkok Reach-Out meeting was positive, although the meeting had an uneven quality. Some of the participants knew far more about refugee issues than did others. Some participants were very critical of UNHCR, asserting that UNHCR cannot help solve the protection problems since it causes the protection problems in the field. The criticism focused on lack of access to UNHCR, bureaucracy, incomprehensible budgets, etc. But the bulk of the discussion was positive; participants requested training opportunities, translations of the Protecting Refugees Field Guide for NGOs, and more information sharing with other NGOs (regionally an: A d extra-regionally), perhaps by joining or forming new networks. UNHCR offered to hire a consultant on their behalf to help secure the necessary resources. Two PARinAC representatives agreed to be point people to take the process forward.

IRC noted that for collaboration between UNHCR and NGOs to work, UNHCR field staff need to know about the process and be willing to engage. NRC observed that it is essential to commit to a process for building long-term relationships. Both ECRE and ICVA expressing their willingness to share information with NGOs from Asia and the Pacific region (and presumably elsewhere).

Regarding plans for the Nairobi meeting, UNHCR thanked ICMC, LCHR, HRW and the Women’s Commission for contributing lists of suggested participants. UNHCR will be reviewing those names, together with suggestions made by their field offices, to make the final selection. Once finalized, UNHCR will send the list to all members of the Steering Committee, who are encouraged to help prepare the national NGOs for the meeting. The Nairobi meeting will be much larger than the Bangkok meeting, and will be bi-lingual. NRC will conduct a half-day workshop on IDPs on the second day. As was the case for the Bangkok meeting, NGOs belonging to the Reach Out Steering Committee are invited to send observers. The meeting will be on 10-11 April.

Enhancing Follow-Through Capacity

UNHCR suggested that if the ROSC feels ready to approach funding agencies with concrete project proposals, UNHCR is prepared to hire a consultant who can help prepare and submit the proposals. IRC said that many of the RO-Bangkok participants seemed ready to start building a network project and would benefit from the help of a consultant. ICMC said that from the perspective of Task Force Three, it may be premature to put forward grant proposals. AI expressed an interest in drafting a proposal for a research project. So, the response to UNHCR’s suggestion was mixed; perhaps the need for a consultant will be more clear following the RO-Nairobi meeting.

Reach-Out ’s Future

UNHCR recalled that the “New York Meeting” had recommended that a Steering Committee be formed to consider several sets of recommendations made to improve collaboration between NGOs and UNHCR to strengthen refugee protection. Although the Terms of Reference for the Steering Committee were vague, The New York Meeting envisaged another meeting at which the Steering Committee would report its findings. Because UNHCR needs to prepare a project report to submit to the Ford Foundation, which funded much of the Reach-Out to NGOs initiative, UNHCR proposed that it reconvene the participants of the New York meeting in June, 2000. Most Steering Committee members voiced concern with that plan. They noted that while several of the Task Forces had made progress, the work of the Steering Committee as a whole is still evolving. They suggested, instead, to hold a meeting either immediately before or after the UNHCR Standing Committee meeting in July. All organizations that attended the New York meeting will be invited to send a representative (not necessarily the Head of the Agency) to the July meeting where the Steering Committee will provide a progress report on activities pursued to date. Participants in this meeting will be asked to review the work of the Steering Committee, determine priorities for future action, and agree on the appropriate means for going forward. The meeting will also address the question of the relationship between Reach-Out and PARinAC.

Next Steps

The meeting ended with confusion about the future of the Steering Committee still lingering, although a few things were agreed: The individual Task Forces will continue to work, as outlined above. The next meeting will take place in July (probably on Monday, July 10) and it may be a large meeting attended by representatives of all of the agencies that attended the New York meeting. UNHCR will confer with the Ford Foundation and will issue invitation letters to the next meeting, as appropriate.

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