I write this introduction at the end of my third month at CIVICUS. In this time, my conversations with colleagues, members and partners all around the world reveal a serious inconsistency. Just as we are seeing a consensus about the importance of civil society, we are seeing developments that undermine the ability of citizens to come together and shape the world around them. This inconsistency is explored in this report.
Governments, international agencies and businesses increasingly recognise that a free and vibrant civil society is a fundamental building block of democratic societies and a means to promoting economic development. Recent international agreements, such as those on development effectiveness or on protecting human rights defenders, reaffirm this consensus, while every politician I have encountered in recent months seems deeply committed to unlocking citizen potential.
Yet the reality seems very different. The conditions in which civil society operates – the enabling environment as it is referred to in our report – are shaky at best and deteriorating in many parts of the world. Our report catalogues a litany of threats to civil society, from outright violence against civic leaders to legal restrictions on civil society organisations to dramatic funding cuts.
While I recognise why so many colleagues – and indeed, many of the contributors who helped us prepare this report - are pessimistic about the state of civil society today, I am convinced that there is only one way for this discrepancy to be resolved. People power will prevail.
History teaches us that it is futile for governments to curb people’s freedoms. It is a question of when, not if, citizens rise up to challenge and often overthrow political systems in which their rights are curtailed. New technologies are making it easier to access information, connect with other like-minded people, and mobilise large numbers of people. We also know that civil society is more trusted than governments or business, and that civil society groups – big and small – are finding innovative ways of improving societies across the world.
Through publications like this and through all of our other activities, CIVICUS promotes the importance of civil society. We speak out when civic space is threatened, and we try to find new ways of helping civil society around the world do its job better. If you are not already part of the CIVICUS family, I urge you to join us.
The last year may have been grim for civil society around the world, but I am convinced that the 21st century will be the century of citizen participation. Watch this space.