A/HRC/42/48 41. Regarding access to the permanent bodies of G77 and Non-Aligned Movement meetings, the Independent Expert was informed that public participation, including by civil society, in decision-making processes is not a fundamental principle and no policy or procedures are in place to allow such participation. In addition, there is no permanent structure for the continuous participation of civil society actors and the public in general in these groupings; however, such actors can be granted observatory status. 40 42. At the G24 level, civil society organizations are invited, during the annual technical group meetings – which are held at least a month before ministerial meetings – to present their views on the themes and topics of the meetings. For instance, in 2019, during the technical group meeting held in Lima, the G24 invited the Tax Justice Network to brief the Group on the issue of the inclusion of tax evasion and avoidance in the measurement of illicit financial flows. G24 ministerial meetings are attended by institutional observers, such as the South Centre, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the Secretariat, which have processes that incorporate the views of civil society organizations and which take the floor during the ministerial discussions. 43. Several interlocutors noted with concern the difficulty of gaining access to the annual meetings of the World Economic Forum, which is by invitation only. Nevertheless, many reported that the Forum had changed positively over the past decade, opening up to civil society’s participation, and they praised in this regard the work of the Forum’s civil society engagement team. It was noted that civil society was provided with relevant spaces during the Forum’s events and that speaking roles were offered to civil society representatives. However, there was reportedly limited interest among the leaders present to engage with civil society.41 As for the Bilderberg Meeting, access is almost non-existent for the vast majority of civil society organizations. 44. The Independent Expert notes the good practice of IMF and the World Bank, both permanent guest invitees to G20 and regular invitees to G7, in establishing the Civil Society Policy Forum, a platform for civil society organizations to hold dialogue with the two organizations’ staff, government delegations and other stakeholders on issues of mutual interest that are related to the organizations’ work.42 OECD, another G20 permanent guest invitee, holds an annual forum during which various stakeholders, including civil society representatives, meet and discuss pressing issues, feeding into the OECD ministerial meeting.43 45. In 2015, IMF developed guidelines on IMF staff engagement with civil society organizations, in which it recognized the benefits of transparent and wide engagement with civil society organizations. 44 At the global level, during its annual and spring meetings, consultative meetings were held between civil society organizations and executive directors within the framework of its annual and spring meetings, and civil society organizations are invited to participate in high-level sessions. (b) Funding 46. Funding is another core issue that severely hampers public participation in global governance spaces. According to one member State representative, G7 relies on the good will of civil society organizations to fund their participation. The same is true of other global governance spaces, such as BRICS. 45 However, travelling to working group meetings and summits can be very costly for these organizations (the cost of airfare, 40 41 42 43 44 45 See the submission by the Government of Senegal. See the submission by Amnesty International. IMF, “2015 guidelines on the IMF staff engagement with civil society organizations”. Available at www.imf.org/external/np/exr/consult/2015/civilsociety/pdf/CSOs_Guidelines.pdf. See www.oecd.org/forum. Available at www.imf.org/external/np/exr/consult/2015/civilsociety/pdf/CSOs_Guidelines.pdf. See the submission by Amnesty International, citing to the following: Bandile Mdlalose and Lisa Thompson, “Are Brics civil society talkshops just ticking boxes and not making real ‘jam’?”, Mail & Guardian, 6 June 2019. 11