International Organization Information / Research: 2005

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Prepared for Union of International Associations (General Assembly, 29 September 2005)
See also searchable PDF version (original titles, sub-headings, order and typography); also reports 1959-2006

Context

Following the pattern of the report on this theme to the General Assembly in 2003, the detailed achievements are presented within the separately distributed Summary of Activities of the UIA Secretariat. The concern here is to point to continuing issues relating to UIA products and services that may assist debate on their future development, notably in relation to articulation of UIA's strategy and its relations with international bodies. This report is therefore an updated version of that presented to the previous General Assembly.

Documentary activity that has always been the principal source of UIA funding (with the exception of funds generated by journal subscriptions) is now the only reason for which it receives additional funds. Such activity was of course the basis for the 1950 ECOSOC Resolution concerning the UIA's Yearbook of International Organizations, for its placement on the ECOSOC (Consultative Status) Register in 1951 by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, its relationship with UNESCO, and for the current subscription of a consortium of UN bodies (negotiated by SAUR) to the UIA's online databases.

UIA's documentary activity is mandated under Article 3 of its Statutes, which describes the UIA as "having a scientific aim, operating as an institute for research, study, information, consultation, promotion and service". The focus of its founders was on the documentary activity and the related study of what became known as "transnational associative networks" -- "aimed at promoting the development and efficiency" of such networks.

It is useful to recognize that UIA funding is unlike that of many other NGOs and IGOs. It is not a mini-United Nations, dependent annually on funds from its Full Members or on their capacity to facilitate access to funding – in fact only a handful of Full Members (notably Paul Caron, Robert Fenaux, Pierre Harmel, Nadia McLaren, Jacques de Mévius, and James Wellesley-Wesley) have contributed significantly to UIA access to funding. Unlike many NGOs, the UIA is also not dependent, for the long-term continuity of its activities, on ability to obtain funding or subventions from irregular and unpredictable sources.

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