Table Of ContentNon-Governmental
Organisations and the United
Nations Human Rights System
Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have become important, if
sometimes overlooked, actors in international human rights law. Although
NGOs are not generally provided for in the hard law of treaties, they use
the UN human rights system to hold Governments to account. A key way in
which they do so is using State-reporting mechanisms, initially the UN treaty
bodies, but more recently supplemented by the Human Rights Council’s
Universal Periodic Review. In doing so, NGOs provide information and
contribute to developing recommendations. NGOs also lobby for new
treaties, contribute to the drafting of these treaties, and bring individual
complaints to the UN human rights bodies.
This book charts the historical development of the NGO role in the UN.
It examines the UN regulation of NGOs but largely the informal nature of
the role, and an exploration of the various types of NGOs, including some
less benign actors, such as GONGOs (Governmental NGOs). It also draws
on empirical data to illustrate NGO influence on UN human rights bodies
and gives voice to stakeholders both inside and outside the UN. The book
concludes that the current UN human rights system is heavily reliant on
NGOs and that they play an essential fact-finding role and contribute to
global democratisation and governance.
Dr. Fiona McGaughey is Senior Lecturer at the University of Western
Australia Law School.
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Non-Governmental
Organisations and the United
Nations Human Rights System
Fiona McGaughey
First published 2021
by Routledge
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© 2021 Fiona McGaughey
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Contents
Acknowledgements vii
1 Introduction 1
1 Introduction 1
2 Methodology 4
3 Defining and categorising NGOs 6
4 Previous literature on NGOs and UN human rights
bodies 14
5 About this book 19
2 History of the NGO role in the UN human rights system 20
1 Introduction 20
2 NGOs before, and in the early years of the UN 22
3 Expanding human rights themes and instruments – the
NGO contribution 25
4 The development of the NGO role in UN human rights
treaty body reporting 28
5 The development of the NGO role in the Commission
and Human Rights Council 31
6 Conclusion 36
3 UN regulation of NGOs 37
1 Introduction 37
2 ECOSOC accreditation 38
3 Association with the Department of Global
Communities (DGC) 44
4 Other forms of NGO regulation at the UN 45
vi Contents
5 Discussion 47
6 Conclusion 48
4 NGOs, treaties, and treaty bodies 50
1 Introduction 50
2 NGOs and the drafting of treaties 51
3 NGOs and treaty body State reporting 56
4 The role of NGOs in bringing individual complaints to
treaty bodies 64
5 Conclusion 67
5 NGOs and the Human Rights Council 68
1 Introduction 68
2 NGO participation in the Human Rights Council 69
3 The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and NGOs 69
4 Special procedures 78
5 Complaint procedures 82
6 The HRC advisory committee 84
7 HRC subsidiary bodies and other opportunities for
NGOs 85
8 Conclusion 86
6 Conclusion 88
1 Introduction 88
2 Key themes 88
3 Parting words 92
Index 94
Acknowledgements
This book is the result of several years of research and my previous experi-
ence of working in the NGO sector. I am indebted to the many people over
this period who supported me, provided feedback on my research, or shared
their networks, in particular Adjunct Professor Holly Cullen, Ms Anasta-
sia Crickley, Professor Stephen Smith, Associate Professor Amy Maguire,
Dr Emma Larking, Mr Morten Kjaerum, and Assistant Professor Philipp
Kastner. I was grateful to receive the Leah Jane Cohen Bursary from Gradu-
ate Women (Western Australia) which helped fund travel to Geneva for my
research and would like to thank all those who supported my field work and
participated in interviews. Finally, a special thanks for all their support to
my mum and dad and to Conleth, Cahir, Daire, and Máidhe O’Loughlin.
1 Introduction
1 Introduction
There has been a growing interest in non-state actors in international
law,1 and in international human rights law, it has become clear that non-
governmental organisations (NGOs) play a significant role.2 In a largely
voluntary system, bereft of enforcement mechanisms, NGOs hold Gov-
ernments to account on their human rights obligations – monitoring ‘from
below’, often using mechanisms of the United Nations (‘UN’) which moni-
tors ‘from above’. Yet, despite the critical role played by NGOs, in the past
it has often been overlooked in traditional doctrinal scholarship. That it is
overlooked by lawyers is perhaps not surprising as with the exception of the
limited opportunities provided for ‘consultation’ with NGOs in Article 71
of the UN Charter,3 there are almost no hard law provisions for the NGO
role in subsequent human rights treaties. A theme in doctrinal scholarship
on NGOs has been on the question of whether they have international legal
personality and there is a lack of consensus on the answer to this ques-
tion.4 This book is more concerned with fully understanding the nature
1 See, e.g. Math Noortmann, August Reinisch and Cedric Ryngaert (eds), Non-State Actors
in International Law (Hart Publishing, 2015).
2 David P Forsythe, Human Rights in International Relations (Cambridge University Press,
2006) 203–4; Michael Freeman, Human Rights: An Interdisciplinary Approach (Polity
Press, 2011) 152; Laurie S Wiseberg, ‘The Role of Non-Governmental Organizations
(NGOs) in the Protection and Enforcement of Human Rights’ in Janusz Symonides (ed),
Human Rights: International Protection, Monitoring, Enforcement (UNESCO Publishing,
2003) 347, 350 (‘Role of NGOs in Protection of Human Rights’).
3 Charter of the United Nations.
4 See, e.g. Christine Bakker and Luisa Vierucci, ‘Introduction: A Normative or Pragmatic
Definition of NGOs?’ in Pierre-Marie Dupuy and Luisa Vierucci (eds), NGOs in Interna-
tional Law: Efficiency in Flexibility (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2008) 1 (‘NGOs in Inter-
national Law’).
