The United Nations Non-Governmental Liaison Service (UN-NGLS or NGLS) is a programme of the United Nations mandated to promote and develop constructive relations between the United Nations and civil society organizations. UN-NGLS operates autonomously across the United Nations system and with civil society constituencies and social movements on cross-cutting and emerging issues on the UN agenda. For example, UN-NGLS currently focuses on the UN General Assembly preparatory process for negotiations of a global compact on migration, and high-level events organized by the President of the UN General Assembly. UN-NGLS advises civil society organizations on opportunities to engage with the UN and facilitates their participation in various UN processes and events (conferences, hearings, workshops, etc.). UN-NGLS has offices at UN headquarters in New York and is part of the United Nations Department of Global Communications.
Objectives and Structure
UN-NGLS facilitates civil society participation in intergovernmental policy deliberations at the UN and monitors and reports on ongoing developments in the UN and summarizes information. The Service primarily assists the Executive Office of the Secretary-General and the Office of the President of the General Assembly, as well as UN Conference Secretariats, agencies, funds, and programmes, in the design and implementation of their civil society strategies. UN-NGLS also helps address gaps and fill needs as they arise on the UN System-civil society interface.
In 2004, the Cardoso Report (the Report of the UN Secretary-General's Panel of Eminent Persons on UN-civil society relations (We the Peoples: Civil Society, the UN and Global Governance) identified NGLS as a key player to reposition the UN in addressing challenges related to the need for more participatory and coalition-based forms of global governance.
Activities
Over the years UN-NGLS has pioneered many of the practices which today have become relatively mainstreamed for engagement between the UN and civil society. For example, UN-NGLS was called upon to facilitate the selection process of civil society representatives and their input in the first Interactive Hearings of the General Assembly (GA) with Civil Society, held prior to the 2005 World Summit. Since then, UN-NGLS expertise has been sought to spearhead civil society participation in the series of UNGA Hearings that focused on various issues, including international migration and development, the least developed countries, HIV/AIDS, Financing for Development, the post-2015 development agenda, and more.