Contenu du sommaire : Organisations internationales et ONG : coopération, rivalité, complémentarité de 1919 à nos jours - 2

The International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations since 1945 − Opposition and PartnershipIt is with misgivings that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) viewed the establishment of the United Nations in 1945, considering it to be little more than the continuation of a victorious military alliance. However, the ICRC and the United Nations developed their cooperation over the course of different major crises: the first Israeli-Arab conflict (1948-49), the Hungarian revolution (1956), the civil war in Congo (1960) and the Cuban missile crisis (1962). This collaboration led to two important joint operations and to the ICRC being granted permanent observer status by the General Assembly in October 1990. This observer status has formed the cornerstone of the relationship between the ICRC and the United Nations over the last twenty years.

The International Committee of the Red Cross and the Organizations for Refugees, 1943-1948During the interwar years, along with its activities for war victims, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was also involved in humanitarian assistance for refugees. This task allowed the ICRC the opportunity to cooperate with other international organizations helping refugee people too on the field. After the Second World War, despite its former experience in this matter, the ICRC was not in position to provide assistance to millions of these people in desperate need for help. The ICRC was however able to maintain a direct contact with organizations such as UNRRA or IRO. The practical results of this collaboration were however not considered as satisfying by the ICRC.

Unesco and the International Union for the Protection of Nature – Rivalries Around Environmental Issues.Environmental questions did not really turn into a cross-cutting issue of UN's technical organizations until the late 1960s when the “environmental turn” became a matter of public debate. Unesco, however, offered an important forum for international activism. This paper explores how Unesco took the lead in environmental discourse immediately after the war. It also briefly analyses why it acted as an important agency for private organisation and why it failed to establish a strong and influential global environmental authority before the late 1960s. It sketches the environmental issues discussed after WWII and the consequences of the ensuing rivalries among some members of the UN family.

International Organizations Cooperating on the Refugee Issue (1946-1956)The action of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) was a crucial aspect of the assistance provided to refugees in the post-war period. This action developed particularly in the context of complex interactions with major international organizations such as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). However, historians have so far largely neglected the study of interactions between international institutions. This article attempts to partially fill this gap by analyzing the nature, extent and evolution of relations between NGOs, the International Refugee Organization, the UNHCR and the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration from 1946 to 1956.

Cooperation and competition. The ICRC, Unicef and Religious Agencies in Biafra
This article analyses the beginnings of the humanitarian operations during the Nigeria-Biafra war at the end of the sixties. More specifically, it focuses on the process which led the International Committee of the Red Cross to intervene in the conflict and to set up an airlift to Biafra despite the reluctance of the Nigerian Government. By investigating how the dynamics of cooperation and competition between various relief agencies were part of this process, this article sheds light on the crucial role played by non-governmental organizations in relief actions during humanitarian emergencies.

The Orderly Departure Programme for Resettling Vietnamese People (1979-1996) – International Organizations and NGOs Collaborating. The Orderly Departure Programme (ODP) was created in response to the “boat people” crisis in Southeast Asia. It was based on an agreement made between the United Nations' High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam encompassed a series of bilateral programmes that allowed people to be resettled directly from Vietnam to other countries. This article focuses on the ODP in the US, which is particularly interesting because of the lack of relations between the US and Vietnam following the end of the Vietnam War. For the US ODP to work, a division of labour among various international organizations and non-governmental organizations was necessary in order for the US requirements to be fulfilled.

The NGOs and the Council of Europe since 1952The Council of Europe is a European organization which from its start sought to closely associate NGOs to its activities. By means of a consultative statute created in 1954, the latter could actively participate in the drafting process of the Council of Europe's legal instruments. In 2003, the new participative status was a world-wide invention: NGOs could take part in meetings of the Council's statutory institutions. Progressively, the role and means of participation for ONGs have thus been increased. In structures such as the European Youth Center, they have a seat in the decisional bodies on the same level as the governmental representatives from the Member States.

The Round Table of the European Commission on Access to anti-AIDS drugs: an Original Example of Interaction between NGOs and International Bodies. The signature of the TRIPs Agreement in 1995 reopened the debate on the access to anti-AIDS drugs in Third World countries. A multi-level game was engaged between many actors with diverging interests. The European Commission attempted to disentangle this web by inviting the nongovernmental actors to a round table. This efficient level of negotiation meant that NGO demands could be passed on. It presented an original example of multilateralism “from below” and of NGOs working with Western international organisations since the end of World War II.