THE 'PREHISTORY' OF Social Watch

4 - Exploring Possibilities
for the Participation of NGOs

Ambassador Somavía was well acquainted with the NGO world and believed that the outcome of the Summit could be enhanced by participation of civil organisations. While in exile he had founded a Non Governmental Organisation that monitored practices of multinational corporations. After Pinochet's partial retreat, Somavía was also the Secretary General of the Chilean Chapter of the Comisión Sudamericana de Paz. This Commission, with members such as Raúl Alfonsín in Argentina, and Gabriel García Marquez in Colombia, had been established in the aftermath of the Cold War and end of dictatorships in Latin America with the view to find a new role for the military. The idea was that stability on the Latin American continent could only be achieved if the military would be given a legitimate role within the structure of the new societies.

In 1992, after resolution 47/92 had been adopted, Somavía approached the Executive Secretary of the Chilean chapter of the South Commission, Carlos Contreras, as well as Roberto Savío, Director at the time of both the International Press Service (IPS) and the Society for International Development (SID). He asked them to help develop a strategy to enhance NGO participation in the preparations for the Summit. The Peace Commission organised a meeting in April 1993 where a 'People's Alliance for Social Development' was constituted, with a secretariat based in Chile. It included an organizing committee with organisations in Africa, Asian and Latin America.

11Independently the People's Alliance and IPS/SID approached Novib, a Dutch development NGO. The interest of Novib's Director to actively participate in the Summit was raised in February 1993 with a meeting set up by SID between Novib Director Van den Berg and Somavía.

12 In September Van den Berg again met with Somavía and accepted a request to be special advisor to Somavía in the preparations for the summit.13