International Consultation
of non-governmental organizations (NGOs)

held on the mornings of 27 and 28 June 1999
during the World Conference on Science

That an intergovernmental organization (UNESCO) and an NGO (the International Council for Science) should have jointly organized the World Conference on Science was already a big step forward in terms of NGO/United Nations collaboration.

As interest in the Conference mounted, particularly on the part of NGOs, it was decided to organize an International NGO consultation within the framework of the Conference to enable fullest possible NGO participation in the Conference proceedings.

Some sixty, mainly international NGOs attended this meeting, which focused primarily on putting together a variety of suggestions to improve the Conference's two main documents - the draft Declaration on Science and the Use of Scientific Knowledge and the Science Agenda - Framework for Action.

The NGO meeting also designated its two co-rapporteurs to take up the two seats reserved for NGOs in the Conference's Drafting Group. This enabled some of the recommendations to be worked into the Conference's final documents. The more pointed and controversial NGO recommendations (such as a commitment to the precautionary principle in applying new technologies or development of a scientific oath) did not survive, however, in the final versions.

The meeting was nonetheless judged positive and fruitful, and NGOs praised UNESCO's efforts to involve them fully in the Conference proceedings without shunning controversy or intense discussion on the vital issues at stake.

NGO-UNESCO Liaison Committee
International Social Science Council
International Council for Philosophy and Humanistic Studies
Third World Academy of Sciences
World Federation of Scientific Workers

-Women and Science Manifesto of the NGO-UNESCO Collective Consultation "Women, Girls and Sexual Equality" (French and English).
-Towards a scientific ethic in the face of globalization Appeal of the World Federation of Scientific Workers (French and English).
-Ethics and Scientific Responsibility of Science WCS background paper issued by the ICSU Standing Committee on Responsibility and Ethics in Science (SCRES) (English only).
-Contribution to the World Conference on Science Education International.