Non-state actors’ participation in the UWTO: A model for the development of multistakeholder partnerships?

Abstract

The analysis of the legal-international characterization of the multistakeholder partnerships encouraged by the 2030 Agenda requires a detailed understanding of the mechanisms currently allowing the participation of non-state actors in the international cooperation structures. Our object of study, the statute of Affiliate Member in the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), is a privileged instrument for this purpose: it is the only organization in the United Nations system that includes a membership status for non-state actors in its constitutive treaty; the tourism sector has a significant presence of private and sub-state actors and, additionally, the UNWTO has very recently adopted a reform of the Affiliate statute legal framework intended, it is said, to strengthen public-private cooperation in order to carry out the Organization mission. In this context, the analysis developed allows for the identification of the insufficiencies of the UNWTO Affiliate Member status as a model for the development of multistakeholder partnerships, but also the difficulties that underline these insufficiencies. On this basis, we formulate some proposals that can contribute to channeling the international cooperation model sponsored by the 2030 Agenda.