The announcement that the NGO Forum is to be moved to a site outside Beijing threw the international NGO community into turmoil. However, a compromise has now been reached which has proved acceptable to most parties involved.
The Chinese government had indicated that the original forum site in Beijing has "structural problems" which prevent it from accommodating the number of persons anticipated for the forum. The new site proposed is the Huairou Scenic Tourist area, approximately an hour away from the site of the official conference.
Initial reactions to the proposed move ranged from indignation to outrage. NGOs all over the world balked at the implications of the move: interaction between participants in the forum and the official delegates would be severely limited - a situation which would all but defeat the purpose of having an NGO Forum parallel to the Fourth World Conference on Women. NGOs were also protesting the fact that facilities at the proposed site were inadequate for communication, press and plenary sessions.
The Once and Future Action Network (OFAN) was among NGOs which voiced strong objections to the proposed change of site. A petition was sent by OFAN to the NGO Forum Office, and one to the offices of the UN Secretary-General, Boutros Boutros-Ghali.
The NGOs' protests contributed to a resolution which will see the Chinese putting in place more of the facilities needed for a successful Forum.
Negotiations between the NGO Forum Office and the China Organizing Committee have led to a compromise, which makes the move of the forum more acceptable to NGOs. The agreement includes a much improved Huairou site, in addition to a satellite site in Beijing near the UN World Conference site. This satellite site is in addition to the Beijing Recreation Centre which will be the base for accredited NGOs to lobby the World Conference.
The Huairou site now offers one contiguous area which will better enable participants to network and to have access to all activities. In addition, the China Organizing Committee (COC) will provide shuttle bus services to and from Huairou and within Huairou.
Although the new arrangements are not what were initially expected, both accredited and non-accredited NGOs are happy with the compromise. Now, all activities will be facilitated and all registered groups and persons will be allowed to participate.