ICG Advocacy

Method

ICG's advocacy begins at the local level, where ICG staff work closely with key agencies and organisations engaged on the ground to develop and mobilise support for its policy recommendations. In Bosnia, for example, ICG focuses a great deal of its effort on the main international organisations involved in the implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement-including the Office of the High Representative (OHR), the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the European Union.

ICG's reports are distributed to a broad international constituency in both hard copy and electronic formats. Direct mailings keep key government ministers and advisors informed of ICG's findings and summary statements are sent out to a wider group of influential opinion-formers.

Members of the ICG Board are invited to throw their weight behind ICG's findings by making private representations to key government officials and urging action along the lines spelt out in ICG's reports. ICG Board members will also seek to raise public awareness of certain problems by authoring articles for publication in the international press, appearing on television programs and providing interviews to journalists.

Such activities are underpinned by an effort to direct media attention to often-neglected issues ICG believes need highlighting. The organisation's findings are transmitted to print, TV and radio media throughout the world. ICG's field offices provide a useful source of information and comment for in-country journalists while media briefings and press releases set out the organisation's position on key issues to editors in world capitals.

Finally, all of ICG's material is posted on the organisation's website, CrisisWeb, located at http://www.crisisweb.org. By late 1997, some 3,000 organisations and individuals-including government departments, UN agencies, NGOs and research centres-were visiting CrisisWeb on a regular basis. In September 1997, CrisisWeb won the Daily Telegraph Site of the Week Award for its high-quality content, interesting features and attractive and easy-to-use lay-out.

Examples

• Opinion pieces authored by ICG staff and Board members published in newspapers around the world, including The New York Times (US), The Washington Post (US), The Los Angeles Times (US), The Boston Globe (US), The International Herald Tribune, The European, The Daily Telegraph (UK), The Times (UK), The Financial Times (UK), The Globe and Mail (Canada), The Australian and Le Monde (France).

• Widespread mentions of ICG's findings and quotes from ICG officials in the international media. In one instance during 1997, a single ICG report, on municipal elections in Bosnia, prompted at least 100 recorded mentions in the press. Full summaries of ICG's reports on Bosnia have been carried regularly in the Bosnian media.

• Interviews with ICG staff and Board members carried on major TV networks including CNN International, ABC (US), CBS (US), NBC (US and Europe), BBC (UK), BBC World, Channel Four (UK), RTBF (Belgium), TF1 (France), France 2 (France) and ABC (Australia).

• A 15 minute segment on ICG's work and findings in Bosnia produced for the popular CBS current affairs program 60 Minutes.

• Weekly meetings between ICG officials in Bosnia and senior staff from the OSCE Mission, the OHR and NATO to discuss issues arising from ICG's investigations and adoption of ICG's policy recommendations.

• ICG's US Board members have presented ICG's findings at regular meetings with high-level officials in the US State Department, Department of Defence and the White House and have appeared as expert witnesses before Congressional Committees. Elsewhere, Board members and staff have met with key Ministers and other officials to present ICG's reports and recommendations.

• An ICG delegation addressed a meeting of Commonwealth Foreign Ministers in July 1997, setting out the ICG Board's position on Nigeria and calling for tougher measures to be taken against the regime of General Abacha.

[ICG Assistance]

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