Nikhil Seth: Multilateralism cannot survive without civil society. Asserting civil society participation at the UN is vital.
During a gathering of NGO leaders worldwide, Nikhil Seth concurred with their views, stating in a keynote speech that “Multilateralism—the very foundation of the United Nations and the international system—stands at a crossroads…We meet today to reaffirm a simple but powerful truth: Multilateralism cannot survive—let alone thrive—without civil society.”
Mr. Seth is a former Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations who served as the Executive Director of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) from October 2015 to January 2025. He also served as the Director of the Division for Sustainable Development at the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) within the United Nations Secretariat in New York.
A panel discussion on UN and NGO relations featured the NGO liaisons in the New York, Geneva, and Vienna UN Offices. In the photo (L) is Anita Thomas (Chair of the NGO Committee on Financing for Development and panel moderator) and (R) Wook-jin Chang (Chief of NGO Branch, Office of Intergovernmental Support and Coordination for SDG, DESA, United Nations)
Seth viewed civil society as the conscience of the global system. “You have raised the alarm when human rights were violated. You have delivered services where states have failed. You have empowered youth, defended the planet, and kept the flame of justice burning…Civil society should not be consulted as an afterthought. You should be co-creators of policy. Co-owners of implementation. Co-authors of accountability.”
The Summit of NGO Committees, held on June 24, 2025, in New York and online, brought together just over 120 leaders from around the world representing 25 of the 29 NGO committees affiliated with the Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations (CoNGO). This gathering served as a preparatory session for the CoNGO Twenty-Eighth General Assembly, scheduled for October 27 to 29, 2025.
In this photo, Nikhil Seth (Former Executive Director of UNITAR) was delivering the keynote address at the Summit of NGO Committees.
In a written message to the Summit, Ambassador Bob Rae of Canada, President of the UN Economic and Social Council, stated, “I firmly believe that the inclusion of civil society is not only essential to the legitimacy of multilateral processes but also to their effectiveness. I commend CoNGO’s continued efforts to foster inclusive and substantive engagement with the UN System.”
The Summit of NGO Committees was organized and structured as an important advisory forum by NGO Committee leaders and CoNGO Board members, whose perspectives are vital to the substantive and deliberative agenda of the CoNGO Twenty-Eighth General Assembly.
The CoNGO President, Mr. Liberato Bautista, led the summit and outlined its goals and theme: defining the present, securing a shared future, and asserting civil society participation at the United Nations. The purpose of holding the Summit of NGO Committees before the CoNGO General Assembly was his desire to bring together CoNGO members and NGO Committees under one umbrella to collaborate under what the summit called a common front.
Bautista was very clear about his hopes. He warmly praised the NGO Committees, calling them the heart of the organization, and emphasized their importance in the multilateral arena. He highlighted the need to build a strong, united relationship among all NGO Committees so they can collaborate effectively and address the multilateral crisis as a unified, powerful team. He proposed forming a Council of NGO Chairs to decide who will represent them under a suggested CoNGO Rules change that would allocate seats on the CoNGO Board. You can see the text of the proposed amendments here.
The Summit featured esteemed keynote panelists who shared insights into the current state of multilateral relations, highlighting the challenges and opportunities in the field. The panel included Mr. Nikhil Seth, Ms. Mavic Cabrera-Balleza, founder and CEO of the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders, Ms. Samira Siddique, Director of Strategic Initiatives at the Center for Earth Ethics, and Mr. Klaus Prömpers, a journalist based in Vienna, Austria. Moderating was Robert Zuber, Director of Global Action to Prevent War and Armed Conflict.
Among the many perspectives shared, Ms. Cabrera-Balleza strongly supported the idea of a woman UN Secretary General. “The lack of women in the role is not due to a lack of qualified candidates but rather a lack of political support,” she said.
A panel discussion on UN and NGO relations, focusing on safeguarding NGO access and improving collaboration, featured Mr. Wook-Jin Chang, Chief of the NGO Branch at the Office of Intergovernmental Support and Coordination for SDG in the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs; Ms. Mirella Dummar-Frahi, Chief of the Civil Society Unit at the Division for Policy Analysis and Public Affairs at the UN Office on Drugs and Crime in Vienna; and Mr. Philippe Hug, Head of the NGO Liaison Unit at the UN Office in Geneva. Anita Thomas of Women First International and Chair of the NGO Committee on Financing for Development moderated the session.
A key concern raised by participants involved reviewing the consultative, associated, and observer statuses of civil society at the UN, along with the engagement, accreditation, and representation of these varied entities at the UN. Participants agreed that with budget and staff cuts and relocations on the horizon, active engagement of civil society is more important than ever.
The tone at the Summit, as outlined in a draft outcome document, was established by the common recognition that the United Nations—although consistently underestimated, under-recognized, underfunded, and undermined—remains central to maintaining peace, eradicating poverty, achieving sustainable development, protecting and expanding human rights, attaining gender equality and equity, and creating a world where social justice and the rule of law prevail.
Interactive sessions at the Summit included discussions of the CoNGO Rules, especially the section on substantive committees, led by Mr. Cyril Ritchie, CoNGO First Vice President. Another session focused on arrangements for intra-committee consultation, collaboration, and cooperation, led by Rodrigo Gouveia, Chief Global Affairs Officer of TruMerit.
Session lead Dorothy Davis of the Congressional Black Caucus Institute and a CoNGO Board member shared her thoughts on civil society participation at the UN: “Civil society is the common denominator underlying all of the progress we have collectively made in all areas. We have fought for human rights across borders that forced oppressive governments to relinquish their resistance to independent countries. We have pushed for vaccines to be distributed to everyone during COVID and a myriad of other health challenges. Each of CoNGO’s subcommittees represents a wide range of civil society organizations at local to global levels that focus on specific issues, outrage, and/or crimes against humanity. Yet, in our collective fight against something, we are also fighting for a new reality where innovative and visionary thinking is required. At our collective core, we envision a better world for all. This is now evidenced in Agenda 2030, the Sustainable Development Goals and the Pact for the Future, etc. We have come a long way…and we have a long way to go. This is a baton passing run from generation to generation.”
Mr. Alejandro Bonilla, Chair of the NGO Committee on Ageing-Geneva and Representative to the UN in Geneva for the International Federation on Ageing, led a session on co-branding within CoNGO, its member NGOs, and NGO Committees under its umbrella. “The diversity and energy of civil society organizations and CoNGO’s NGO Committees align naturally with the UN’s raison d’être.”
Ms. Pamela Morgan, Co-Chair of the NGO Committee on the Status of Women for New York and the UN representative of Zonta International, led a session on safeguarding institutional and intergenerational memory, emphasizing the importance of archiving organizational documents and preserving the historic legacies of CoNGO, its members, and its NGO committees.
The Summit highlighted that maintaining shared institutional memory is both a moral duty and an organizational necessity. “We have a responsibility to tell our own story and to capture and curate it with diligence and care—for present accountability and future continuity and remembrance.”
The Summit produced several recommendations, many of which will be discussed at the Twenty-Eighth CoNGO General Assembly, while others will be forwarded to the incoming CoNGO Board, which will be elected on October 29, 2025. A Summit outcome document will include these recommendations.
