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Working Draft
Last Updated: September 2005
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Canada's Voice in Global Governance: A Civil Society Handbook Introduction and Project Overview |
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Welcome to Canada’s Voice in Global Governance: A Civil Society Handbook. This handbook is a resource for civil society organizations (CSOs) interested in understanding and influencing Canada’s role in some of the world’s most important global institutions. The objective of the handbook is to help facilitate access to key contacts and materials. In addition to providing concise and practical information, the handbook should be seen as a gateway to a wide range of additional resources.
The handbook is actually a series of documents, each of which answers key questions and provides important contact information on a particular international institution, including: the Group of Eight (G8); World Bank Group; the World Trade Organization (WTO); the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD); the Organization of American States (OAS); the International Labour Organization (ILO); the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); and the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR). There is also a section that provides an overview of the key pillars of the Canadian Government’s foreign policy-making process.
Please note that this version of the handbook is a “Working Draft”. We hope that it can be of immediate use to CSOs across Canada and beyond, but we are also seeking comments and suggestions in order to improve it and ensure that it is useful to the widest possible range of organizations (see below for information on where to send comments). The handbook was designed as a web-based tool, but it is also available in hard copy format. It will be updated regularly, so please check the website to ensure that you have the most up-to-date version: www.foecanada.org/intl/handbook.htm.
What follows briefly describes the rationale behind the handbook and provides additional information on the how the various sections are organized and the information that each contains.
The 20th Century was characterized by a dramatic increase in the role of international institutions, including the birth of the United Nations system and the growing importance of international financial and trade institutions such as the World Trade Organization and the World Bank. These institutions are playing an increasingly influential role in defining the direction of international aid, establishing the rules of international trade and investment, and determining the social and environmental obligations of states, corporations and individuals.
For better and for worse, Canada plays a very active role within most of these institutions. Canada is represented within their governing bodies and provides them with hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money every year.
Canadian CSOs also play a role in shaping the direction of these institutions. Hundreds of Canadian CSOs are working on critical international issues such as human rights, trade and investment, the environment, conflict and poverty alleviation. This includes efforts to influence key international bodies and to hold the Government of Canada accountable for how it represents Canadians.
The structures and procedures of international institutions, as well as the ways in which Canada relates to them, vary tremendously depending on the institution in question. While the mandates of the various institutions often overlap, there are significant differences in the way they function and the way that Canada determines and directs its voice within them. As a result, it is difficult to monitor a single issue across a number of different international institutions and to hold the Government accountable for the positions that it takes.
With this in mind, Friends of the Earth Canada has coordinated an effort to bring together information on a range of key international institutions. As mentioned above, the overall goal of the project is to help Canadian CSOs effectively navigate and inform Canadian foreign policy positions.
For each of the eight institutions mentioned above, the Handbook provides answers to the following questions: (i) What is the institution? (ii) What does it do? (iii) How is it structured? (iv) How does it work in practice? (v) Who speaks for Canada in the institution? and (vi) Who decides what Canada says at the institution? Each of the eight sections concludes with practical tips for civil society activists interested in better understanding and influencing the institution in question, as well as Canada’s role within it.
We have intended this handbook to be a gateway to understanding these institutions, and not a definitive resource on them. For this reason, the web-based version of the handbook is filled with hyperlinks providing immediate access to explanations, contact information and additional resources. Expanding the range of hyperlinks built into the documents, as well as the breadth and utility of the information they are linked to, will be a major focus of our work to improve the handbook in the coming months. Each handbook also contains a variety of information boxes with organizational charts, lists of relevant CSOs, information on other guides that have been produced on the institution in question, and other useful tips and information.
If you are working for a Canadian CSO involved in international activities and interested in influencing the key international institutions shaping our world today, this handbook is a good place to start. As you read, keep in mind that international institutions are notoriously complex, and we have made every effort to make their inner workings accessible to the average reader. At times, details are sacrificed for the sake of clarity. Accordingly, each section contains suggestions for further reading and research on the institution at hand.
Furthermore, the eight entities covered in this handbook are the proverbial tip of the iceberg when it comes to international institutions. They are part of a rapidly expanding web of institutions, treaties and informal networks which is reshaping our politics, economy and society at the international level. In the months to come, we intend to augment this handbook with brief summaries of some of the many other global bodies that are not currently reflected here and provide key hyperlinks to additional information.
We hope that this handbook will be a resource for a wide range of Canadian CSOs who want to further their international work. As mentioned above, the handbook is currently considered a “working draft”. People should feel free to cite it and use it, but we are currently looking for additional feedback on how to improve the various sections and ensure that it is useful to the widest range of organizations. Your feedback is very welcome, and can be directed to Graham Saul at Friends of the Earth Canada (gsaul@foecanada.org, 613-241-0085, ext. 22). The many sections of the handbook represent the collective effort and input of a wide range of human rights, labour, environment and development organizations from across Canada and beyond (see “acknowledgements” in the individual sections). The process of bringing this information together was coordinated by Friends of the Earth Canada and advised by a steering committee that included representatives from the Halifax Initiative Coalition, the Canadian Council for International Co-operation (CCIC), and Kairos: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives. This project would not have been possible without the generous support of the Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. While Friends of the Earth deeply appreciates the support of all of the organizations and individuals involved in the development of this project, we take sole responsibility for any inaccuracies or mischaracterizations that may have survived the editing process. In many ways, the handbook is a work in progress and we look forward to receiving input on how to improve and update it in the months and years to come.
Graham Saul International Program Director Friends of the Earth Canada
260 St.
Patrick Street, Suite 300
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