Abstract
Chapters 2 and 3 propose a specific model for NGOs to consider when engaged in diplomacy. Chapter 3 focuses on steps 4–6 in the model: Position Papers and Delegation Tactics and Management. This covers the negotiation period as well as the post-negotiation period. In this period, the NGO might reexamine its process if negotiations fail or focus on ways to gain implementation if the negotiations succeed.
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Notes
- 1.
Some organizations use the term “officer” to mean the lowest rank. This book defines the term to mean everyone from the CEO to the lowest official. All delegation members are officers, though in diplomatic jargon, the head of the delegation to a UN conference is usually the delegate, with the other members being called alternative delegates.
- 2.
Interpreting is paraphrasing—the interpreter listens to a speaker in one language, grasps the content, and paraphrases with his or her understanding. A translator can write in the target language, understands the culture, and can provide an exact understanding. Documents are translated. One thing to be certain of is that when a document from a conference meeting has been published, the translation is accurate. It can happen that words or phrases in one language can be misconstrued. National delegations regularly look for such errors. It makes sense for NGO delegations to do the same unless there is only one official language.
- 3.
Some of finest negotiators we met were former Assistant Secretary of State Hal Saunders, who ran the Near Eastern Bureau during the Iran hostage crisis. Another would be Judy Learner of Peace Action, that of NGO’s United Nations representative and an adviser to this effort. Judy knows far more than most about the field of peace and why negotiations to promote an end to war are important. Another example would be George F. Ward Jr., Coordinator for Humanitarian Assistance in the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance and a senior official at the US Institute for Peace.
- 4.
Sometimes called BATNA (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement), a BATNA needs to be kept in mind just in case negotiations do not succeed, perhaps even to suggest to the other side. After all, even the very best trained and skilled negotiators can fail. Just look at the decadelong Palestinian–Israeli discussions which have enjoyed the attention of generations of the world’s best minds, without a final solution.
- 5.
An agreement was reached in 1948 by American allies to control the export of strategic goods to the Soviet Union and its allies. All of NATO eventually joined, except Iceland in January 1950 when the arrangement was managed by the “Consultative Group” or CG. Japan joined in 1952, followed by Greece and Turkey in 1953. To implement policy decisions of the CG, the Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls (COCOM) was created which continued to operate through 1994 to regulate trade in sensitive technologies between western economies and the communist world. The idea was export controls would limit the short-term striking power of the Soviet Union by restricting trade in both military goods and industrial goods that could be used to expand the military complex. It was credited with helping bring down the Soviet Union, despite many weaknesses because it dramatically increased the cost of modern technology in the Soviet Union in particular at the same time as they were trying to expand their military. CoCom was replaced with the Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies in Vienna. Its focus was “rogue states.” That arrangement still exists. What makes this relevant in the context of this book and the obligations of CoCom never rose to the level of a treaty arrangement. Technically, they were voluntary.
- 6.
There were exceptions to this rule. A number of engineers were also very fine negotiators in their right, generally from the defense, commerce, and energy departments.
- 7.
Pacific Blockade as a recognized tool of international law went out of practice beginning in 1907 at the Second Hague Convention, which agreed to provisions of the Convention respecting the Limitation of the Employment of Force for the Recovery of Contract Deeds.
- 8.
Bartholdt had also been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1914 because he had founded the American group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in 1904. He was also president of the Inter-Parliamentary Council, and he promoted international law and arbitration. The nomination was supported by 59 members of the US Congress and a letter from Andrew Carnegie (Source: Nobel Prize Nomination Database).
- 9.
The term “ask” is common to negotiations and refers to what a negotiator is trying to achieve, perhaps a sentence in a resolution, an entire resolution, or even a declaration.
- 10.
Internally displaced persons
- 11.
NGOs have a strong interest in the protection of IDPs, but follow through can be a true legal challenge, to say nothing of the politics. The problem is that IDPs don’t cross international borders, so regardless of the reasons for displacement, they are not legally protected by the Refugee Convention, yet their vulnerabilities are the same as refugees. The Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement do elaborate the legal protections IDPs should be entitled to under existing humanitarian, human rights, and refugee law, but the principles lack the authority of a UN mandate. This is a serious issue which needs adjustment, and NGOs should play a major role in the process since it is often they who provide assistance. However, NGOs involved in negotiations about IDPs do need to keep in mind that it is also unlawful under the Geneva Conventions to forcibly displace anyone based on their ethnic, religious, minority designation, or politics. The Convention on the Rights of the Child prohibits arbitrary separation of children from their parents, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provide not only freedom of movement but an implied freedom to refuse evacuation.
- 12.
Don’t forget that the decision memo and the position papers are not developed in a vacuum. The delegation members helped develop those documents, so the process of writing and clearances should enhance understanding of the desired goals and acceptable alternative options.
- 13.
By “ask,” we mean the result you are aiming for. Keep an “ask” simple, especially in field negotiations, when the plainest language and as few words as possible are usually best. That way, the message is most easily understood, and the “ask” can appear to benefit the other’s interests.
- 14.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international, independent, medical humanitarian association that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, disasters, and exclusion from health care. MSF offers assistance to people based on need, irrespective of race, religion, gender, or political affiliation. MSF’s work is based on humanitarian principles (Tronc 2012).
- 15.
Derived from the historic destruction of the city of Carthage by the Roman Empire in 146 BC, in diplomatic parlance, the term Carthaginian Peace relates to a coercive negotiation that destroys one side to the advantage of another. The most famous modern example of this would be the Treaty of Peace closing World War I.
- 16.
As of the writing of this book, the CEO of Sea Shepherd is a fugitive from a German court, trying to extradite the officer for trial in Costa Rica on various maritime charges.
- 17.
Armed non-state actors (ANSA) sometimes violate international law, like attacking civilians. This is often done in order to rebalance the relative strengths of state forces versus those of the ANSA. The justification is that tactics that violate humanitarian norms are tactically acceptable because they avoid military defeat. While the authors respect the need for coercion as a tactic and encourage interaction with armed non-state actors when done to protect innocent people, the authors reject any violence against civilians.
- 18.
Heifer International works with the Batay Community in remote Paracelis, Philippines, on livelihood protection (Heifer, 2010b). Another example is Endangered Species International (ESI) which is fostering research and conservation activities to preserve endemic freshwater fish in partnership with local fishermen in southern India (ESI 2010).
- 19.
“The Sphere Project is a voluntary initiative that brings a wide range of humanitarian agencies together around a common aim—to improve the quality of humanitarian assistance and the accountability of humanitarian actors to their constituents, donors, and affected populations. The Sphere Handbook, Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Humanitarian Response, is one of the most widely known and internationally recognized sets of common principles and universal minimum standards in lifesaving areas of humanitarian response. Established in 1997, the Sphere Project is not a membership organization. Governed by a board composed of representatives of global networks of humanitarian agencies, the Sphere Project today is a vibrant community of humanitarian response practitioners (SPHERE, Not listed).”
- 20.
Bushmeat trade in particular is a crisis not only for animal welfare/rights professionals and conservationists but also for those practicing sustainable development in that it threatens the ecosphere even more than the conversion of land to living space and is a prime source of animal–human disease transmission. Yet socioeconomic realities often work against this most ugly and cruel of trades. It is also the subject of both bilateral and multilateral diplomatic efforts by NGOs and governments.
- 21.
“Diplomacy throughout comes in many guises. Some are apparent and stem from being diplomatic, but on its own, that is not enough. Many foreign government officials recognize raw diplomacy and may be suspicious of your intentions and reasons for invoking the art of tactful discussion. Diplomacy with foreign government officers often needs to be more covert and will likely materialize as compromise, cultural sensitivity, and a genuine willingness to proffer trust and credibility. In a number of Middle Eastern countries, it has sometimes taken several years for governments to accept our NGO as a full operational partnership. For example, the provision of statistical information or information relating to past activities would not normally be offered without a formal MOU or partnership agreement. This can only be achieved through the establishment of trust and organizational and personal credibility (Wheeler 2012).”
- 22.
At the time, Roeder helped coordinate shipping of NGO purchased food to Burma on US Air Force planes based in Thailand. Non-animal welfare partners in Burma then picked the supplies up on arrival and conveyed it to the NGO staff in the field.
- 23.
Climatecaucus.net provided assistance to AOSIS in 2010.
- 24.
An old Bedouin proverb. If a camel can push its nose into a tent, the rest of the body will soon follow, but by bit.
- 25.
This term means that the representative is not based locally at an embassy or mission but instead is based in a nation’s capital, perhaps at the Department of State or Ministry of Foreign Affairs, etc.
- 26.
Many armed non-state players are military wings of political movements. The KIA for example is the military wing of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) in Burma.
- 27.
Word-smithing is a common term referring to the tedious effort in most conferences of working and reworking document many times over as numerous. delegations insist on specific words or phrases in order to protect a particular interest. This process can be very tiring, but is crucial since different cultures will have different ways of phrasing the same concept in the same language.
- 28.
Examples: References: (a) position paper of Dec 26, 2015 on Reconstruction Zones in Afghanistan for the February 24, 2016 – Berlin Conference on Aid Effectiveness. (b) Research Project on Targeting Aid to Provide Adequate Infrastructure by Paul Minor, Feb 10, 2009.
- 29.
This legislation provides government officials the authority to implement or enforce a law.
- 30.
The OAS is not a UN body; but works in association with the UN.
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Roeder, L.W., Simard, A. (2013). A Practical Model For Diplomacy and Negotiation: Steps 4-6 – The Negotiation and Implementation Stages. In: Diplomacy and Negotiation for Humanitarian NGOs. Humanitarian Solutions in the 21st Century. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7113-4_3
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