"The United Nations is both a participant in and a witness to an increasingly global civil society. More and more,
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other civil society organizations (CSOs) are UN system partners and valuable UN links to civil society. CSOs play a key role at major United Nations Conferences and are indispensable partners for UN efforts at the country level.
NGOs are consulted on UN policy and programme matters."
(United Nations (UN),
UN and civil society, visited 2010-01-29)
Some
NGOs participate in the verification of labour and social standards, such as compliance with environmental standards.