I have some questions about NGO (Non-Government Organizations). When did they first appear at UN Conferences? How have they become so powerful? How does an organization gain standing as an NGO at a conference? C.S. Toronto.

Non-Government Organizations made their appearance in 1974 at the UN Conference on Population in Bucharest. Actually there were two conferences, side by side: the official UN Conference with delegates from member states; the Forum for NGOs. Over the years the NGOs have gained power and influence so that today, they are not only virtually "active equal partners" with government delegations, but they hold their own conferences to promote and establish international policies on population control, world government etc.

How they became so powerful is too long a story for here, even if we knew the whole story. Some NGOs are powerful business lobby groups. We also know from the US report NSSM 200 (which was strictly secret until fairly recently) that the US government(s) used some NGO's to promote their US agendas - e.g., on population - agendas which they preferred to keep hidden from the US public. The NGOs acted as "fronts"; the government(s), which funded them, could appear to have clean hands. Alduus Huxley, in the Perennial Philosophy, wrote: "but since genuine self-government is possible only in very small groups, societies on a national or supernational scale will always be ruled by oligarchal minorities whose members come to power because they have a lust for power." He might have been discussing the UN and most NGOs.