COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES WITHIN UNITED NATIONS - The case of the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict on child soldiers

To pursue its mission the UN engages with a wide range of stakeholders. Naturally, Member States – the most influent UN stakeholders – pursue national self-interest in the hope of securing their political advantage. Despite governments’ goals may conflict, when a common objective is identified and shared by a group of States, the UN provides a useful framework for the pursuit of such objective. And, as it was discussed in the previous chapter, the issues that are taken to the UN by national governments depends, in turn, on the outcome of local, internal policy making processes.

Through this multi-layered agenda setting process (e.g. from local, to national, to international), the various political subjects within Member States – including citizens – can ultimately influence the UN’s policy making, just like the UN’s actions can influence local politics (e.g. through recommendations, public denunciation, or actual sanctions).

Every year, the General Assembly, the GA plenary and its six Main Committees are allocated agenda items to evaluate. The chief objective of each session of the General Assembly is taking action consequently – for instance adopting one or more resolutions on specific items. The Article 10 of the UN Charter – which defines the functions and powers of the General Assembly – states that:

The General Assembly may discuss any questions or any matters within the scope of the present Charter or relating to the powers and functions of any organs provided for in the present Charter, and […] may make recommendations to the Members of the United Nations or the Security Council or to both on any such questions or matters.

However, even when items on the General Assembly’s agenda result in resolutions – which is not a foregone conclusion – these are considered mere recommendations, without any legal binding power on the Member States.

The only resolutions that have the potential to be legally binding are the ones adopted by the Security Council. For this reason, General Assembly resolutions tend to be effective only when they are fully agreed by a wide majority. The states that did not vote in favor of a resolution on a particular item will be less likely to implement the actions that are recommended.

As already noted by a UN official in the early years of the organization,

It smacks of rhetoric to say that the UN is a forum for the conscience of the world. Let us state more modestly that it is a sounding board for the opinion of a great many nations in the world, and if that opinion is strong enough and united enough, it cannot fail to have its influence.”

As a result, the UN’s policy strongly depends on governments’ ability to cooperate and compromise while pursuing self-interests. Confronted with this situation, the UN is often forced to rely on the sole advocacy to influence national politics and facilitate the inclusion of dissident governments within common agreements.

While national governments can leverage on the coercive power of laws to influence attitudes, an organization like the UN that, in most cases, can only make recommendations, needs to count on advocacy to pursue its goals. For this reason, an effective communication strategy is crucial to change the institutional and social environments in which undesirable behavior takes place, particularly when the issue at stake have not risen to a level of public awareness that makes the public opinion acknowledge the existence of a problem.

Thus, advocacy is pivotal to ultimately change laws, policy, and practices were these do not comply with international standards, and it is fundamental to secure collective benefits for otherwise underrepresented groups.

The term ‘advocacy’ defines a wide variety of communication activities, including media campaigns, reporting activities, press conferences, side events, public speaking, commissioning and publishing research, or simply any dialogue in person with persuasive goals. [...]