Minutes of the Third Meeting of the NGO/UNHCR Reach-Out Steering Committee
27 September, 1999
Summary
Review of the Minutes of 27 June
Discussion of the Task Forces
Regional Reach-Out Meetings
Next Steps
Attachments
Summary
Members of the NGO/UNHCR Reach-Out Steering Committee met at the International Federation of Red Cross Red Crescent Societies in Geneva on 27 September, 1999. It was the third 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 and to consider the merits of combining or changing the focus of some of the Task Forces. A report was presented on the status of ongoing efforts to introduce protection concepts into the work of humanitarian assistance NGOs working in Kosovo, and was followed by a discussion on the draft proposal for a refugee protection support training project to be submitted to potential donors by members of Task Force Two, in close collaboration with UNHCR. Plans for the regional Reach-Out meetings were also discussed. Dr. Elizabeth Ferris of the World Council of Churches served as NGO co-chair, and Mr. Tahir Ali of the Department of International Protection served as UNHCR co-chair, in Ms. Erika Feller's absence. The next meeting will be at UNHCR Headquarters in Geneva, most probably in February, 2000. A firm date will be announced once the next UNHCR Standing Committee meeting is scheduled.
Review of the Minutes of 27 June
The minutes were reviewed and adopted without amendment.
Discussion of the Task Forces
Task Force One: Sharing and Use of Sensitive Information. Members of this Task Force expressed concern about disclosing too many details about actual information exchange arrangements currently in place between certain agencies around the world. Instead, JRS and HRW suggested that they draw up a conceptual framework for sharing sensitive information which may be used by members of the Steering Committee. The short document will contain the following sections:
- Why share information?
- How can we safeguard information?
- A Statement of Principles.
Task Force One agreed to provide descriptions of a few information-sharing experiences with the Task Force Two training project personnel, for inclusion in the training module. Additionally, Task Force One will create a list of "Dos and Don’ts" on collecting and sharing sensitive information for inclusion in the training materials.
Task Force Two: Operationalizing Protection. Ms. Jan Shaw of Save the Children-USA, presented a report on her ongoing efforts to introduce a protection focus into the work of humanitarian NGOs currently working in Kosovo. Ms. Shaw met with a variety of NGOs as well as with UNHCR. She indicated that many NGOs are interested in the idea of strengthening their protection capacity but are not quite sure how to do it and that a training project would be most welcome. Ms. Shaw said that the NGO Council is not very active in Kosovo, and that most agencies and NGOs do not talk to each other. She mentioned that UNHCR has started to host regularly scheduled meetings with NGOs and other UN agencies to discuss the protection situation in Kosovo and that she is playing a role in setting the agenda and encouraging NGO involvement. UNHCR has also invited her to represent the NGO community in the InterAgency Meetings on Ethnic Minorities.
Ms. Shaw noted the need for improved information exchange between NGO Headquarters and their offices in the field, observing that even the NGOs with representation in the Reach-Out Steering Committee did not seem to be well informed about refugee protection.
The draft proposal for establishing a refugee protection training project was also discussed. UNHCR reiterated that the training project should focus on the protection of refugees and people in refugee-like situations, and that reference to international human rights and humanitarian law should be made in that context. UNHCR also emphasised the importance of basing the course on the newly published Protecting Refugees–A Field Guide for NGOs, as well as on materials that have already been produced by UNHCR. Members of Task Force Two agreed, and emphasised its intention to collaborate closely with UNHCR throughout the three-year project. The meeting also agreed that introducing periodic evaluations and assessments of the project was essential, particularly after the first few courses had been conducted. ICRC, after expressing initial reservations about the project due to its "global" scope, later agreed that the project should go forward as long as the training course retains its focus on "basic" refugee protection principles. It was clear that the Task Force’s use of the term "global" in the first draft had caused confusion: the term meant to describe a world wide program, not a course that dealt only with highly complex, still evolving legal and humanitarian principles. The Steering Committee agreed that once the above changes were made to the draft proposal, it should be submitted to potential donors.
Task Force Three: Capacity-Building and Collaboration with NGOs. ICMC distributed a draft questionnaire designed to elicit information about the capacity needs of national NGOs. The Steering Committee agreed that it was critical to limit the scope of the questions relating to material needs, and that it was important to include a detailed cover letter explaining the purpose of collecting the information. Challenges associated with distributing and collecting/analysing the questionnaire were also discussed, particularly in view of the resource limitations of the Task Force. Possible approaches include distributing the questionnaires to the participants of the upcoming regional Reach-Out meetings. Additionally, it was felt that a regional approach may best capture the particular interests of each region, e.g. Latin America will probably be interested in information/training on laws and standards whereas Africa may be more interested in operational issues.
ECRE, LCHR and NRC agreed to join ICMC in re-drafting the questionnaire to reflect the views expressed above. A copy of the revised questionnaire is attached.
Task Force Four: Standards-Setting Process. After quite a bit of debate about how best to take this Task Force forward, the Steering Committee agreed that a lot of work is already being done by members of the Steering Committee to influence the standards-setting process and that this effort should be continued. Although some of the work is ad hoc, there is a collaborative procedure currently in place whereby several NGOs routinely comment on UNHCR guidelines and policies, as well as prepare joint statements on Standing Committee papers, including the annual International Note on Protection. Considering the heavy workload of most Steering Committee members, the Committee agreed that the most practical way to move forward on standards-setting would be to report on the collaborative process that currently exists among NGOs, invite others to join, and continue making interventions when necessary. Ms. Rachael Reilly of HRW agreed to assume responsibility for reporting to the Steering Committee on the NGO process and how it impacts the larger standards-setting process. Additionally, it was agreed that Task Force Five/Six would consider the issue of standards-setting in the research project it intends to conduct (see below).
ICVA suggested that some of the information relating to standards-setting can be posted on the ICVA website, for use by Reach-Out members, as well as PARinAC members, once the Reach-Out process is absorbed into PARinAC sometime next year.
Task Force Five: Accessions to and Compliance with the 1951 Convention; and Task Force Six: Advocacy. Noting that it has been difficult to find the human resources necessary to complete the action steps outlined at the 27 June meeting, Leanne MacMillan of AI announced her intention to initiate a research project to examine existing mechanisms for cooperation in advocacy, particularly the role of NGOs at other UN (human rights) fora. In consultation with ICVA and other members of the Steering Committee, Amnesty International will write a grant proposal seeking funds to hire a qualified researcher(s) to work on the project. If the project is funded, the new researcher(s) will work with representatives from UNHCR, humanitarian assistance NGOs, human rights NGOs, an academic and another IGO. The study will also review options for improving joint advocacy in field level operations, between the field and headquarters levels and at the international fora. The study will propose a new approach to advocacy, possibly based upon a pilot project focusing on a particular issue.
Larry Minear, of Brown University, noted that a study on advocacy was recently prepared by Mr. MacFarlane of Oxford University. That study examined the impact of advocacy on the landmines campaign as well as the international response in Angola.
Amnesty will seek the approval of the Steering Committee once the proposal is completed, and prior to submission to a potential donor.
Regional Reach-Out Meetings
The regional meeting for Asian national NGOs will be in Bangkok on 11-12 November. A provisional annotated agenda was distributed, as was a list of recommended NGO participants. Mr. Tahir Ali mentioned that they are still taking recommendations for national NGO participants from Indonesia and China. Mr. Ali reminded the Steering Committee that Bangkok-based affiliates of Reach-Out Steering Committee member agencies may attend the meeting as observers.
Following the conclusion of the Reach-Out meeting, the Norwegian Refugee Council will conduct a half-day training workshop on human rights principles relating to Internally Displaced People.
The Nairobi NGO meeting has not yet been scheduled. UNHCR hopes to select a date for sometime in January, 2000. Following the regional Reach-Out meetings, as well as the PARinAC meetings (in Latin America, and Southwest Asia/MiddleEast), the original "New York group" will re-convene to review progress made and to outline future actions, as necessary.
Next Steps
The next Steering Committee meeting will be held at UNHCR Headquarters in Geneva on the day before the first UNHCR Standing Committee meeting for 2000. Dates for that meeting will not be set until December, but it usually takes place sometime in February. A precise meeting date will be circulated to the Reach-Out Steering Committee members as soon as possible.
Attachments
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