CIVICUS and the World Movement for Democracy (WMD) have submitted a written statement to the 25th Session of the UN Human Rights Council (3 – 28 March 2014). The statement examines the rising restrictions on the activities of civil society across  the world, including: i) worsening policy and legal environment for civil society; ii) dissolution of civil society groups without justification; and iii) judicial persecution of civil society members. The statement further provides a number of key recommendations to be considered by the UNHRC to ensure the creation of a safe and enabling environment for civil society.

Rising Restrictions on Civil Society which require the Human Rights Council’s further attention

February 14, 2014

Ethiopia’s renewed push for admission to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) should be closely scrutinized due to the limited role Ethiopia has granted to civil society and a hostile legal environment that minimizes meaningful debate, Freedom House and Civicus World Alliance for Citizen Participation said.

Freedom House and Civicus urge the government of Ethiopia to live up to the commitment made in its 2013 EITI application to “improve the legal environment” for the citizen-based watchdog role in the process. We also call on the EITI International board to ensure that Ethiopian civil society organizations are granted free, full and effective participation, as required by the EITI standard.

“Free, meaningful participation by Ethiopia’s civil society is impossible in the current environment,” said Vukasin Petrovic, director of Africa Programs at Freedom House. ‘The Ethiopian government should use the EITI application process to identify and complete concrete action toward making substantive changes to the tightly restricted role of citizens’ groups.”

CIVICUS is currently in the process of developing the content for our flagship State of Civil Society Report. With humanity poised at a critical juncture due to multiple integrated economic, social, political, environmental and humanitarian crises, and as conversations take place around the world on a new paradigm for sustainable development, our 2014 report will focus on the broad theme of citizens’ transforming the global governance arena. 

The 2014 report slated for release in the second quarter of the year will be presented through a series of interactive webpages and downloadable sections, along with an engaging and accessible summary which will be widely disseminated.  The report will also include key findings from CIVICUS’ inaugural civil society-intergovernmental scorecard, which assesses the depth and quality of engagement of intergovernmental organisations with civil society organisations. We invite you to participate in our survey here.

CIVICUS is interested in hearing from you. Please share with us three key reforms that you believe are critical to democratise global governance. Write to us at   We also welcome your suggestions on possible topics or issues to include in the report.

As part of our regular interview series, CIVICUS speaks to Mauricio Alarcón-Salvador about threats to human rights activists and NGOs in Ecuador. Mauricio is a lawyer and human rights defender who focuses on citizen participation and the rights of people with disabilities. He is the Programme Director of Fundamedios, a position he has held since 2009. Fundamedios or the Andean Foundation for the observation and study of the media is a civil society organisation which works to defend and promote freedom of the press, speech and association in Ecuador.

Lately, a lot of media attention has been focused on restrictions on democratic freedoms in Ecuador. Can you tell us more about the situation there?

In the recent years, there has been a consistent deterioration in the respect of fundamental freedoms in Ecuador.  Freedom of expression is mostly affected because of increasing threats to and attacks on journalists, media agencies and ordinary citizens who are critical of the government.  Journalists are increasingly persecuted, radio and TV Stations have been shut down and citizens arrested for allegedly “offending the President.” The government is equally trampling on the rights of association and the right to protest.  Civil society activists and human rights defenders have been subjected to judicial persecution and jailed for simply participating in public protests. As we speak, there are more than 200 leaders of social movements and activists who are being persecuted for simply expressing their rights to protest and associate. Most of those who are persecuted are charged with threatening state security.

French | Spanish    

CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation is pleased to announce the selection of 8 convening partners to conduct local multi-stakeholder dialogues between January and June 2014, as part of its action-based research project, the New Social Contract. 

Through the project, CIVICUS seeks to find new ways of partnership, engagement and commitment between different stakeholders to address collective challenges at the local level and together set up collective goals. CIVICUS proposes a methodology for these multi-stakeholder engagements and has been funding a series of local conversations about collaboration and systems that underpin the relationship between different forces in society, also known as social contracts. 

The Call for Expressions of Interest to organise locally-initiated multi-stakeholders dialogues was officially launched on 20 September 2013, and was well received as 948 applications from 120 countries were submitted. Between October and December 2013, the proposals were moderated on account of the relevance of the proposed challenge, the candidates’ willingness to address it and their motivations to establish a local multi-stakeholder platform.

Global Update by the Civic Space Initiative 

As he concluded his official visit to Rwanda, the UN Special Rapporteur (UNSR) on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association Maina Kiai urged the government of Rwanda to lift restrictions on peaceful assembly and association.

The purpose of the UNSR’s visit was to provide observations and recommendations for how Rwanda can better respect, promote, and implement international human rights law and standards regarding the freedoms of assembly and association. He met with government officials as well as leaders from national and international non-governmental organizations. Rwanda is the first African country to have invited the UNSR since the establishment of the mandate in 2010.

The UNSR commended the country’s remarkable economic progress since the 1994 genocide. However, he expressed concerns that the government generally does not allow peaceful protest, and asserted that “peaceful assemblies should not be feared. Rather, they should be encouraged. There is value in expressing disagreement and differences peacefully and publically.”

Mr. Kiai also noted restrictions on civil society organizations (CSOs) and political parties, including barriers to registration, limits on CSO activities, excessive government interference, and a lack of space for dissenting views. He urged Rwanda to uphold its international legal obligations regarding freedom of association, reiterating that “it is crucial that individuals exercising the right to associate…are able to operate freely and without fear.”

The Civic Space Initiative (CSI) supports the UNSR mandate by providing technical expertise and human resource support. The CSI also works to ensure meaningful participation of civil society actors in the work of the UNSR. Members of the CSI are ARTICLE 19, CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, and the World Movement for Democracy.

Relevant Links:

Full End-of-Mission Statement by the Special Rapporteur

4th February 2014

The Government of Eritrea should accept recommendations to cooperate fully with the United Nations human rights system, said Human Rights Concern-Eritrea, the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project and CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, following its examination at the Universal Periodic Review yesterday.

Under the Universal Periodic Review mechanism, the human rights record of each UN member state is reviewed every four and a half years. Given the situation of widespread and systematic human rights violations in Eritrea, the UPR process is an important opportunity for scrutiny and dialogue. During the three and a half hour working group session in Geneva, the delegation of Eritrea, headed by Ambassador Tesfamichael Gerahtu, stated its commitment to human rights and to engagement, dialogue and cooperation, and was commended for its participation in the review. However, Eritrea simultaneously continues to refuse to cooperate or allow access to the country to the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Eritrea. 

27 January 2014. CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, Civil Rights Defenders and the Azerbaijan Civil Society Defense Committee, a coalition of 42 Azerbaijani civil society organizations, are appealing to Azerbaijan’s President not to sign into law a number of restrictive amendments to the NGO Act passed by Parliament on 17 December 2013 to control the activities of NGOs. The Bill is currently in the President’s Office and likely to be approved at any moment. 

The amendments subject NGOs to increased bureaucratic controls through requirements to re-register every three months with the Ministry of Justice, creating increased uncertainty for the sector. Furthermore, the amendments impose enhanced fines ranging between 2500-3000 AZN (approximately 3190 – 3830 USD) on NGOs and between 1000-2000 AZN (approximately 1280 – 2560 USD) on the leadership of NGOs for failing to submit information or for submitting “false information.” The amendments also state that if NGOs are served notices for infringing any legislative requirements more than twice in a year, they may be shut down at the discretion of the courts. 

22 January 2013 

The annual gathering of world leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos lacks any meaningful citizen engagement and is a shameful reinforcement of the status quo it purports to change, says the global civil society alliance, CIVICUS.

“The world’s political and business elite in Davos are not interested in citizen voice and participation judging by the lack of inclusiveness and transparency they display,” says Dr Danny Sriskandarajah, the CIVICUS Secretary-General.

“It is almost laughable that they talk about inequality, poverty and other critical social issues while not including the very people most affected by them. It is no wonder that levels of trust in political and economic leaders is at an all-time low,” states Sriskandarajah.  

“Political and business leaders need to face up to the urgent need for meaningful citizen engagement and think about what a democratic Davos would look like. And they also need to pay more than lip service to inequality. At the moment Davos is the epitome of a world run by elites,” says the CIVICUS Secretary-General.

The issues of inequality, elitism and the co-option of the political process by wealthy elites is in focus at Davos, especially following on from a report released by Oxfam that shows that the richest 85 people in the world own as much as half of the world’s population.

END

21 January 2013

To the political and business leaders gathering at the World Economic Forum in Davos 

As representatives of civil society organisations attending the World Economic Forum, we are writing to urge you to ensure that the following issues of critical global importance are central to discussions at the forum and that, as per its stated purpose, the forum helps to deliver the insights, initiatives and actions necessary to respond to them

1. Securing a safer world: As the forum takes place thousands of innocent people in Syria, including many children, continue to die.  As vital peace talks kick off in Geneva, the crisis in Syria emphasises why we must work together to guarantee both immediate humanitarian access and aid, as well as secure long-term solutions to end crises – especially in Syria, South Sudan, the Central African Republic and Afghanistan -  and find ways to prevent future outbreaks of conflict and violence.

    

Following the election of a new president in the Maldives in November 2013, national and international civil society groups hope the new government will respect the fundamental rights of its citizens and ease restrictions on citizens' rights which characterised the outgoing regime. CIVICUS speaks to civil society activist and founder of the Voice of Women (VoW) Maldives, Thilmeeza Hussain, about the challenges faced by civil society during the previous regime and the sense of optimism among civil society groups about the opening up of spaces for civil society by the new government.

1) What are the objectives of the Voice of Women (VoW) and what are some of the main activities VoM has undertaken to strengthen civil society in the Maldives?

The main objectives of the VoW are: to create a society where men and women work side by side, mutually respecting each other's rights; to empower women so they are able to stand up for their rights; to generate opportunities to effect change for the advancement of women through development, support and inspiration of women as leaders; to promote women's leadership in sustainable development, the environment and climate change; to build respect for human rights in the Maldives in general by creating awareness of the rights of women and to document human rights violations, domestic violence, or sexual abuse that takes place specifically based on gender. Below we highlight a few activities we have undertaken in advancing human rights in the Maldives:

International Civil Society Week

CIVICUS is the only global network of civil society organisations and activists dedicated to strengthening citizen action and civil society around the world. We are proudly based in Johannesburg, South Africa, and have over 1000 members in more than 120 countries.  International Civil Society Week 2014 (ICSW 2014) is a key global gathering for civil society, governments, donors and business to engage constructively in finding common solutions to global challenges. The week will bring together concerned citizens across sectors, themes, regions and backgrounds. The key theme of the week is “Citizen Action, People Power”.

ICSW 2014 will be a ‘partnered event’–a model that was tested in the conceptualisation and implementation of ICSW 2013. Between 8-15 November 2013, CIVICUS, CONCORD/ DEEEP, Global Call to Action against Poverty and International Civil Society Centre convened 13 different conferences, workshops and events, which brought together over 300 civil society actors from around the world. ICSW 2014, hosted in November, will build upon the successes of ICSW 2013, bringing together over 500 people in Johannesburg and thousands more through online engagement.

South Africa has a rich legacy of activism and involvement to bring about social change, as exemplified by the liberation struggle. Active involvement did not end there and there are still many examples of positive citizen activism and engagement today. The proposed date for ICSW 2014 coincides with a pivotal moment in South Africa’s history–the 20th Anniversary of Democracy and Freedom. This provides an opportune time for the world to look back, reflect and celebrate what South Africa and the world has achieved in the past twenty years, and also to explore how we can deepen our gains in freedom and democracy to provide a more just and equitable society for all.

After an energetic and engaging Board Meeting we are proud to announce new Board Officers for the term of 2013-2016 below.

Board Chair & Chair of the Executive Committee
Nyarardzayi Gumbonzvanda 
Follow Nyarardzayi on Facebook and Twitter @NyaradzayiGumbo

Vice Chair
Feliciano Reyna 
Follow Feliciano on Twitter, @fjreyna 

Secretary
Elisa Peter 
Follow Elisa on Twitter, @elisapeter 

Treasurer & Chair of the Operations Committee
Uygar Özesmi 
Follow Uygar on Twitter, @uygarozesmi 

The Chair of the Governance & Membership Committee will be Anabel Cruz. Follow Anabel on Facebook.

The CIVICUS Board is keen to engage with CIVICUS members and partners to lead, guide and advise the organisation as it moves forward in engaging and advocating for civil society worldwide. Watch this space!

It is with extreme alarm that CIVICUS demands the Bangladeshi government halt its campaign of harassment against Odhikar, Bangladesh’s leading human rights organization. Odhikar has been drawing attention to human rights abuses since 1994.

 
Odhikar’s Director, Nasiruddin Elan, and its Secretary, Adilur Rahman Khan, stand accused of committing offences under the controversial and recently amended Information and Communication Technology Act 2006. Nasiruddin Elan’s plea for bail was rejected this morning by the Cyber Crimes Tribunal which ordered that Elan be detained and taken to jail.
 
CIVICUS is deeply concerned that Nasiruddin is at risk of torture and inhuman and degrading treatment whilst in detention, and that Adilur Rahman Khan, currently released on bail, is in danger of further politically motivated harassment on spurious charges constructed by the state.
 
CIVICUS reiterates its call to the Bangladeshi authorities to immediately and unconditionally drop all charges against Adil and Elan and to end all harassment against Odhikar.
 
For more information please contact

A Global Update by the Civic Space Initiative

The Civic Space Initiative (CSI) welcomes the recent report on freedom of peaceful assembly and of association in the context of elections by Mr. Maina Kiai, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association (UNSR).  The report was presented to the United National General Assembly (UNGA) on October 29. 

In his presentation of the report, Mr. Kiai stated that he had received “numerous complaints from individuals and groups concerning the excessive force used by law enforcement officials in dispersing protests that advocate for electoral reform or challenge election results.”  He argued that the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association are often violated before, during, or after elections particularly in a highly tense political environment.  As “the electoral process is a major avenue” for citizens to participate in democratic governance and “elections confer legitimacy on governments,” he urges UN Member States to ensure the conduct of legitimate elections by protecting those rights.

Coinciding with the presentation of the report, Mr. Kiai launched FreeAssembly.net, which will serve as a portal for information related to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association.  The October 29 report to the UNGA, along with his previous reports to the UN Human Rights Council, is available on this website. It also includes press releases and public statements by Mr. Kiai as well as information related to countries that he has visited or seeks to visit.  Through the website, various stakeholders, especially civil society groups and national human rights institutions, can communicate and share their information directly with UNSR.

Living In a Shanty Town (L.I.S.T)

No more time outs from poverty
27 June 2013
Nairobi, Kenya

In the absence of active engagement with slum dwellers and serious consideration of their points of view and aspirations, most poverty alleviation and youth empowerment programs fail to offer a real chance for breaking the poverty cycle. This dialogue aimed at sparking a conversation between stakeholders that don't usually interact directly with each other in order to jointly share views on how to tackle poverty in Kibera, Nairobi's biggest slum, identifying who can play a role in that change and exploring ways of further engagement with the hope to build and validate an otherwise unlikely partnership. It was hoped that such a dialogue could shift the relations between the beneficiaries of poverty alleviation programs and donors and government agencies.

Dear CIVICUS member,

I am writing to you as the current Chair of CIVICUS Board of Directors. As an outgoing Board Member, I am also on the Nominations Committee. The Nominations Committee was established by the CIVICUS Board of Directors to oversee the nominations and elections process for the CIVICUS Board of Directors 2013-2016. The Nominations Committee was given the very challenging task of reviewing the large amount of nominations received, selecting a maximum of 26 candidates that reflected the diversity and balance we seek for the CIVICUS Board and reviewing the election ballots received from CIVICUS voting members.

I am very pleased to announce the incoming CIVICUS Board of Directors. The exceptional quality and talent of the candidates on the ballot paper was reflected in a very tight election. The Nominations Committee examined the election results closely, which resulted in a multi-person tie for the 13th position. To avoid this tie-break, the Nominations Committee ultimately decided to elect 14 candidates to work on the Board of Directors. The names of elected candidates can be found below.

CIVICUS Board of Directors 2013-2016

We are hoping that most of the newly elected Board Members will be able to join CIVICUS in Johannesburg for the first Board Meeting this November, when they will take on their official duties as elected CIVICUS representatives.

Many thanks to all CIVICUS members for participating in this important process. We received a record number of nominations, and had a large voter turnout in the elections.

Yours sincerely,
 
David Bonbright
Chair, Board of Directors
Member, Nominations Committee

Ahead of the release of her next report due to be presented at the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2014, CIVICUS speaks to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights - Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona. 

1)    What is the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights?

My role is part of one of the so-called “United Nations special procedures”. Special Procedures are human rights monitoring mechanisms established by the UN Human Rights Council and endorsed to individual experts called “Special Rapporteurs”, “Independent Experts” or “Working Groups", whose common mandate is the investigation and reporting of human rights situations either in a specific territory (country mandates) or with regard to a phenomena of violations (thematic mandates).

The scope of the action of special procedures is truly universal: all the States of the world are monitored by these bodies and they cover civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. As mandate holders, we report on our activities and findings to the most important United Nations bodies dealing with human rights, the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly. We also carry out country visits to investigate the situation of human rights in specific domestic contexts. We are independent, we serve in our personal capacity, and we do not receive salaries or any other financial compensation for our work.

2)    How would you describe your working relationship with civil society and how can they make better use of your mechanism to advance human rights of vulnerable groups?

Creating linkages with civil society and using the mandate on extreme poverty as a platform for civil society issues is a definite priority for me as Special Rapporteur. I see immense value in collaborating with and taking up issues being pursued by civil society organisations and grassroots movements. I have enjoyed very productive working relationships with a number of civil society organisations to date, both with respect to my thematic reports and to my country missions, where collaboration with civil society is an essential element of a successful mission.

When: 12PM GMT, 23 October 2013 Where: Online

CIVICUS is pleased to invite you to webinar on "a new paradigm shift for development" which will bring together representatives of civil society organisations to discuss the need for a new approach to development and key reforms needed in global governance. More specifically, the webinar will seek to address the following questions:

• Why is a new paradigm shift for development necessary?
• How should key global institutions be reformed to reflect this new shift?
• How can the voices of citizens be included in decision-making processes?

Please use the following link to register for the event: https://cc.readytalk.com/r/5jmmo7ed08hc&eom

Presenters:

Gina Govender, former trade unionist and anti-apartheid activist
Antonella Valmorbida, Association of Local Democracy Agencies
Aldo Caliari, Rethinking Bretton Woods Project
Jenni Williams, Women Of Zimbabwe Arise
Myrna Cunningham, Indigenous Rights Activist
CESR

Moderator: CIVICUS

For more information, contact:
Lerato Pagiwa, CIVICUS Communication Officer:
David Kode, CIVICUS Policy and Advocacy Officer:

On October 11th, Adilur Rahman Khan, Secretary of Bangladeshi human rights organization Odhikar, was released on bail following over one month in pre-trial detention.
            
Adil was originally arrested on 10 August 2013 in apparent reprisal for publishing reports critical of the government’s response to May 2013 demonstrations in Dhaka in which over 60 people were reportedly killed.

While CIVICUS welcomes the decision to release Adil on bail, we reiterate our call that the government drop all charges against him and end the harassment of Odhikar and other human rights defenders persecuted for their legitimate work.

For more information please visit the CIVICUS Civil Society Behind Bars page

What follows is an open letter from Victor Ochen, a Ugandan civic leader and victims' rights advocate. Ochen is the founder of the Africa Youth Initiative Network, which works with war crimes victims in Northern Uganda. Ochen brings a perspective that has been completely overlooked at this meeting of the African Union and his missive ought to be heeded by governments seeking to exit the ICC.

To the Kind Attention of Your Excellencies the African Presidents:
I write to you as a fellow African, as a brother to you and those millions of Africans who continues to suffer from different forms of injustices. Above all, as someone who shares with you the deep love for our beloved continent. I reach to you Heads of African States, with my deepest compassion in the light of the effects of decades of dreadful conflicts in Africa. I do believe that my views are widely shared by majority of Africans and people around the world with desires to see profound meaningful and positive change comes to the continent. Above all, I am representing the voices of victims and survivors whose lives have been shattered by wars, and who are living with great despair, anger and bitterness.

Action For Fundamental Change and Development (AFFCAD)
Enhancing Religious Pluralism and Tolerance - Multi Stakeholders' Meetings and Dialogue in Kawempe Municipality
May - June 2013
Kampala, Uganda

This project was motivated by the perceptions that the many faith-based organisations in Kawempe Municipality tie their humanitarian assistance to the faith they profess, which has created tensions, mistrust and hatred within the local communities. This initiative was thus intended to encourage these organisations to enhance and mainstream religious pluralism and tolerance in their work to promote peaceful co-existence and to ensure community cohesion at local level.

Niger Delta Women's Movement for Peace and Development (NDWMPD)
Stakeholders forum on building citizen engagement and participation
5 June 2013
Ughelli, Nigeria

The forum was conceived as a one day capacity building workshop and engagement forum for citizens from the Niger Delta communities, multinationals companies, local governments and civil society organisations. Its ambition was to provide an opportunity for reflection on the roles and responsibilities that several economic and social groups play in the Niger Delta's environmental, economic and socal situation today. In many rural communities, most citizens, especially women, do not participate in the decisions that affect their daily lives, and there is often a lack of trust between citizens and local officials. Communities have also been suffering from the negative effects of oil's extraction without necessarily benefiting from this industry. The objectives of this dialogue were primarily to increase citizens' knowledge and participation about those issues and to create opportunities for citizens and relevant stakeholders to engage with each other to improve their community.

Centro Ecuatoriano de Derecho Ambiental (CEDA)
Social responsibility: a commitment to cross learning
20 June 2013
Quito, Ecuador

CEDA sought to promote innovation in the management of civil society organisations (CSOs) based on the experiences of the private sector and through the creation of new channels of dialogue and learning between them. This new space for dialogue would allow sharing specific experiences of social responsibility, analysing and discussing its implementation in the civil society and social sector.

CEDA has been working on positioning the corporate social responsibility as a management model which could allow for a better accountability for CSOs, and this dialogue between CSOs and private companies in Ecuador built on the private sector's interest in actions based management models in social responsibility.

CIVICUS recently published its new Enabling Environment Index, showing that many governments around the world are failing to keep their promise to create an environment that allows citizens to mobilise and participate in civil society.
 
To share its findings, CIVICUS is holding a launch event in London on Tuesday 8 October, 13:00 – 15:00 at Europe House, 32 Smith Square, London, SW1P 3EU. It will include a panel discussion on the road to effectively measuring civil society health, what the results mean for the UK, and its role in protecting civil society conditions domestically and around the world.
 
Please RSVP to Radmila Evanics () if you would like to attend. Places are limited and on a first come first serve basis.

Light refreshments will be provided.

You can view the event programme here
 
You can view the full report and Index findings here

30 September 2013. The government of Azerbaijan’s intensified crackdown on independent dissent severely undermines the prospect of free, fair and credible presidential elections, says global civil society alliance, CIVICUS and the Azerbaijan-based Center for National and International Studies (CNIS).

“The government’s pre-emptive campaign to silence independent journalists, human rights defenders and civil society groups ahead of the October 9th elections is emblematic of the systematic and widespread repression of civil society in the country,” said Ine Van Severen of CIVICUS. “Azerbaijan’s European trade and development partners need to revaluate their relationship with the government and demand greater protection for democratic freedoms in light of the country’s international obligations,” said Severen.

 New York, September 23, 2013. “The economy is growing, but poverty is increasing. Clearly, we need to change the way we define progress”, said one participant in a community meeting in Nigeria on development priorities. This was among the key messages shared by civil society representatives from Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe at the United Nations Headquarters today, ahead of the UN Special Event on 25th September where Governments will debate what should follow the Millennium Development Goals after their 2015 deadline.

“We need to seek out the people who are not usually heard in these high level debates – this is what we are trying to do here” said Richard Ssewakiryanga from the Uganda NGO Forum.

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Application deadline: 15 October 2013

We are living in an age characterized by climate change, financial collapse, resource depletion and a growing gap between rich and poor, amongst other factors. In order to properly address those complex challenges and demands, societies need to adopt new approaches fostering innovative, cross-sector, decision-making and action strategies. To explore these new pathways for participation, CIVICUS, the global civil society alliance, has launched the action-based research project, New Social Contract.

Within this framework, CIVICUS seeks Expressions of Interest by potential convening partners to organise and oversee locally-initiated multi-stakeholder dialogues, following the methodological approach proposed by the project. More specifically, we are looking for:

• A relevant challenge (social, economic, environmental) existing in a given community, that – if properly tackled by a group of diverse stakeholders joining hands and bringing their added value to the table - could lead to a systemic change;
• A convening partner (or a small group of co-convenors) that is directly affected by this challenge, is able to articulate the potential impact of an inclusive dialogue and identify and engage relevant stakeholders.

CIVICUS welcomes the release of prominent human rights defender Nasrin Sotoudeh and at least ten Iranian prisoners of conscience on 18 September 2013.

Arrested in September 2010, Nasrin was sentenced to 6 years in prison as a result of her work as a human rights lawyer and member of the Centre for Human Rights Defenders in Iran.

While the decision to release Narsin represents a welcome step in the right direction, CIVICUS urges the government to revoke the unwarranted ban preventing Nasrin from practising law and from leaving Iran for 20 years and further release all prisoners of conscience imprisoned as reprisal for their legitimate human rights work.  

For more information please visit Civil Society Behind Bars or contact

Through the New Social Contract project, CIVICUS seeks to find new ways of partnerships, engagements and commitments around collective goals for society. New Social Contract will input on the discussions around participative governance and how to reconsider the rules that govern how citizens engage in the decisions that affect their lives.

Through local, multi-level and virtual activities and consultations New Social Contract will gather compelling examples of collaborations, commitments and action strategies taking place between diverse stakeholders around the world, including government, business, scientific community and the civic sector, across a broad range of issues.

One method to do so will be the co-organisation with convening partners of locally initiated multi-stakeholder dialogues, following a methodology developed by CIVICUS. The local partners will be selected through a call for expressions of interest, based on the relevance of the proposed challenge, their willingness to address it and their motivations, reasons and interest to establish a local multi-stakeholder platform.

CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, FORUM-ASIA, Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice and Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative would like to draw the attention of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) to the human rights situation in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka has been under review by the UN Human Rights Council, since March 2013 for its government's egregious human rights abuses, both past and ongoing. The UN Secretary‐General's Panel of Experts on Sri Lanka, in its April 2011 report, found credible allegations associated with war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by both, the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE. These abuses have been well documented and have twice been the cause of censure at the Council. In the latest development, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Navi Pillay, in her observations at the end of her official mission to Sri Lanka between 25 and 31 August 2013, highlights several of our past and continuing concerns.

Read the full submission

A group of international civil society organisations has called on the Bangladeshi Prime Minister to immediately release advocate Adilur Rahman Khan. In a joint letter to the Prime Minister they note Mr Khan’s extensive work with Odhikar, the organisation for which he is the Secretary, as well as his human rights work and campaigns against extrajudicial killings, disappearances, torture and violations of the rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association. Mr. Khan’s arrest and subsequent detention under the Information and Communication Technology Act 2006 appears to be aimed at intimidating and silencing critics of the Bangladeshi government.

Read the full letter here

Today, on 1 September, Nabeel Rajab, the prominent Bahraini activist and president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) and Director of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, spends a second birthday behind bars.

CIVICUS joins thousands around the world in calling for the immediate release of Mr. Rajab, who is being unjustly persecuted for his work as a human rights defender and for his peaceful role in the Bahrain peoples’ uprising which began in February 2011.

Sign the petition for Nabeel Rajab’s release on Civil Society Behind Bars!
For more information please contact

Activists are increasingly being targeted as freedom of expression is threatened in Fiji. In the latest instance, on 9 August, a High Court Judge sentenced human rights defender and head of the Citizens Constitutional Forum (CCF) Reverend Akuila Yabaki to a three months suspended sentence for “contempt of court.”

Reverend Yabaki was accused of reproducing the summary of an article in his organisation, CCF’s newsletter, Tutaka.  The article originally published by the Law Society of England and Wales” noted that “there is no rule of law” in Fiji and the “independence of the judiciary cannot be relied upon.”

The judge indicated that Reverend Yabaki’s sentence was suspended on condition that he pays a FJD $ 2000 (approximately US $1000) fine within a month of the handing of the sentence.  The court also demanded that he pays FJD $ 2500 (approximately US $ 1250) as costs to the Attorney General’s Office. In addition, CCF was also fined FJD $20000 (approximately US $10000) and asked to issue an apology which must be pre-approved by the courts and then published in CCF’s newsletter.

The Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme says the Pacific’s development goals beyond 2015 will be more ambitious and deal with unfinished business.

Helen Clark says the Millennium Development Goals have been mostly successful - there is less poverty, more children in school and fewer babies dying in the Pacific.

But she says beyond 2015, there is still plenty of work to be done.

HELEN CLARK: In my opinion, the MDGs have been a success. That’s not to say that every country has achieved every goal, which obviously is not the case. But overall there’s been tremendous progress reducing poverty, tremendous progress towards getting every child in school, fewer babies and children dying. So we have to say there’s success, but there’s unfinished business. And now as we’re talking about what will follow the MDGs in 2015, we’re looking at how to finish the unfinished business, but also be more ambitious.

MARY BAINES: So places like Solomon Islands are expected not to meet those goals? What about other places like Melanesian states, Polynesia, Micronesia - are they going to meet their goals?

Read more at Radio New Zealand International

Key report to General Assembly outlines Secretary General's vision of 'a world we have a right to expect'

The UN has just released the Secretary General’s report to the forthcoming General Assembly on progress in meeting the Millennium Development Goals and recommendations for what should replace them in 2015. The report, entitled “A life of dignity for all,” is a powerful and timely endorsement of the need to follow up the MDGs with a holistic and transformative framework of development commitments anchored in the universal fulfillment of human rights.

Echoing the central premise that has motivated CESR’s advocacy and analysis over the last two years, the report asserts that ending poverty is “a matter of basic justice and human rights”. It includes a welcome recognition that freedom from fear and want are inseparable, and that human rights encompass the economic and social dimensions of human well-being. “No person should go hungry, lack shelter or clean water and sanitation, face social and economic exclusion or live without access to basic health services and education”, says the Secretary General. “These are human rights, and form the foundations for a decent life.”

Read more at the Center for Economic and Social Rights

International Civil Society Week: Citizen Action, People Power
8th - 15th November, Johannesburg, South Africa

CIVICUS and its partners will host a series of events from 8-15 November in Johannesburg, South Africa, which will bring civil society organisations and activists together to address some of the most important issues facing global civil society today. International Civil Society Week is expected to convene more than 300 civil society actors from around the world.

Below, you will find the full programme for the week, as well as hyperlinks to registration forms and contact details for more information. You can also download your International Civil Society Week welcome pack.

CIVICUS expresses shock at the arrest and subsequent detention of Adilur Rahman Khan, Secretary of the prominent Bangladeshi human rights NGO, Odhikar, a CIVICUS member. Adil was arrested in front of his house on the night of 10 August by plain clothed police from the Detective Branch. No warrant was produced at the time of his arrest. Adil was taken before a judicial magistrate on 11 August and has been remanded to custody for five days. He is reportedly being accused of violating the Information and Communication Technology Act for the publication of a fact finding mission report by Odhikar on the alleged killing of 61 people by Bangladeshi security forces in May 2013.

CIVICUS believes that Adil is being unjustly persecuted for his work and beliefs as a human rights defender by Bangladesh’s security forces. Adil and Odhikar have been particularly active in raising concerns about Bangladesh’s human rights record at international forums including the UN Human Rights Council. He has been threatened and placed under surveillance in the past.

CIVICUS has written to the Head of Bangladesh’s Permanent Mission in Geneva amid heightened concerns about Adil’s safety and security in custody.

CIVICUS asks you to spread the word and join the call for Adilur Rahman Khan’s release by signing the petition to Bangladesh’s Prime Minister here. 

Find out more:
Odhikar statement on arrest of Adilur Rahman Khan 

In commemoration of "International Day of Solidarity with Civil Society of Belarus", CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation reiterates its call for the immediate release of imprisoned Belarusian activist, Ales Bialiatski.

Bialiatski, the founder of one of Belarus' leading human rights organisations, "Viasna", was sentenced in August 2011 to four and a half years in prison as reprisal for his work and beliefs as part of the government's on-going crackdown on civic dissent. Today, Belarus has one of the most disenabling and oppressive operating environments for civil society in the world.

Sign the petition for Ales Bialiatski's release on Civil Society Behind Bars!
For more information please contact Tor[dot]Hodenfield[at]civicus.org

24 de junio 2013

CIVICUS: Alianza Mundial para la Participación Ciudadana está buscando candidatos a  la elección de su nuevo Consejo de Administración. El actual Consejo se está acabando, y estamos buscando dirigentes de la sociedad civil competentes para ayudar en la gestión de la organización desde fines de 2013 hasta fines de 2016.

1. Funcionamiento

Los miembros de CIVICUS pueden ahora ser candidato a la elección del nuevo Consejo de CIVICUS. Después del 28 de julio 2013, un Comité de Nominaciones de CIVICUS (compuesto de los actuales miembros del Consejo quienes no pueden presentarse a estas elecciones) examinara las candidaturas recibidas y seleccionara los 26 candidatos más calificados quienes corresponden más a los criterios enunciados abajo.

CIVICUS Guest Column by John Coonrod, PhD, Executive Vice President, The Hunger Project

All politics is local. The truth of this saying is underscored by the experience of my Hunger Project colleagues working in 20,000 villages, as well as by studies such as the World Bank’s massive 2010 study “Moving Out of Poverty.”

Progress on all eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) requires planning and action at the local level: food security, jobs, primary health care, primary education, changing gender attitudes, water, sanitation and preserving the natural environment.

While national governments need to provide resources and standards, the nitty-gritty details of ensuring that people can reach these fundamental services depends on local government.

When we look at success stories where people have rapidly liberated themselves from extreme poverty - such as in Brazil and the Kerala state of India - these are often the result of strong decentralisation and strong mechanisms of participatory local democracy that involves a vibrant local civil society.

Yet good local governance is virtually absent from the international agenda. How do we transform this?

French | Spanish

CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation would like to invite you to a series of civil society events taking place between 10th and 15th November 2013 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Coming just two months after the UN General Assembly meetings in New York in September, the week of strategising, dialogue and mobilisation will be a key milestone and space for global civil society to chart a route forwards on how to bring real citizen voice, accountability and mobilisation into the newly emerging development vision.

Two major global civil society conferences, at the heart of the week, are being hosted for the first time outside of Europe:

• The conference on Building a Global Citizens Movement, convened by CONCORD/DEEEP, will take place on 11-12 November, and bring grassroots activists and social movements together with organised civil society. A session hosted by CIVICUS and partners, with a special South African focus, will connect the experiences of yesterday’s struggle activists with more recent social justice movements.
• The International Civil Society Centre's Global Perspectives 2013 conference engages global and national CEOs of leading international civil society organisations in a dialogue around navigating disruptive change. The conference is co-hosted by ActionAid International and CIVICUS and will take place on 13-15 November.

In the wings of these two important conferences, CIVICUS will also organise a range of side meetings and events, bringing together many of its existing networks for regular meetings and holding a number of workshops, for example on strengthening the enabling environment for civil society. We will also convene the alliance’s membership Annual General Meeting, Board of Directors, and Youth Advisory Group.

In late 2012, CIVICUS announced that it would not hold a CIVICUS World Assembly in 2013, instead using the year to learn and evaluate what kind of spaces could best convene global civil society around the issues that matter. While we carry on this learning process, the series of events scheduled for 10th – 15th November will provide an important space and opportunity for global civil society to convene, and is expected to bring together around 500 civil society leaders and activists.

Are you interested in participating in or organising your own session in the wings of the CIVICUS civil society week? We want to bring as many CSOs, activists and friends of civil society to Johannesburg as possible for this important week, so please let us know as soon as possible by emailing , and watch this space for details of formal application and registration!

24 juin 2013

Veuillez télécharger et compléter le formulaire de mise en candidature en Anglais, Espagnol, Français. La date limite de dépôt des candidatures est le dimanche 28 Juillet 2013.

CIVICUS: Alliance Mondiale pour la Participation Citoyenne recherche des candidats pour l'élection de son nouveau Conseil d'Administration. A l'heure où le mandat de l'actuel Conseil touche à sa fin, l'alliance mondiale de la société civile pour le renforcement de l'action citoyenne recherche des dirigeants de la société civile compétents afin d'aider à diriger et gérer l'organisation de fin 2013 à fin 2016.

1. Fonctionnement

Les membres de CIVICUS peuvent maintenant être candidat à l'élection du nouveau Conseil de CIVICUS. Passé ce délai (28 juillet 2013), un Comité de Nominations de CIVICUS (composé des actuels membres du Conseil qui ne peuvent pas se présenter pour ces élections) examinera les candidatures reçues et sélectionnera les 26 candidats les plus qualifiés, et qui répondent le mieux aux critères énoncés ci-dessous.

by Marlyn Tardros, PhD Executive Director of Virtual Activism

The world watched the January 25th revolution which ousted long-time president Hosni Mubarak. Now the world is watching again, this time with less optimism. But this is the story of a people who refuse anything less than freedom. Egyptians of all walks of life are not sleeping in tonight. Everyone throughout Egypt is on the streets determined to continue their revolution which had been interrupted.

• CIVICUS looking for nominations for its new Board of Directors
• Civil Society and Significant Change—Are We Ready?
• "The arrival of a new political generation"- Brazilian human rights advisor speaks on the Brazil protests
• Curb attacks on Civil Society and the media in Mali – CIVICUS
• Words from a Syrian prison
• America’s Worst Charities
• Azerbaijani MP proposes vote on greater role for civil society
• Canada: Canada puts development on equal footing with trade, diplomacy
• Global protest grows as citizens lose faith in politics and the state

 
 Read this issue online or subscribe to receive all future issues

Mazen Darwish, president of the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression, has been held in detention for more than a year by the Syrian authorities. Mazen’s colleagues have appealed to CIVICUS to highlight his case ahead of the International Day of Torture on 26 June. 

Read this call in French or Spanish

Download forms (English, Spanish, French). Nominations close Sunday 28 July 2013

CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation is looking for nominations for election to its Board of Directors. As the term of the current Board draws to a close, we - the global civil society alliance dedicated to strengthening citizen action - are now searching for suitable civil society leaders to help steer and govern the organisation from the end of 2013 to the end of 2016.

1. How it works

Members of CIVICUS can now be nominated to stand for election to the new CIVICUS Board. Once the deadline(28 July 2013) has passed, a CIVICUS Nominations Committee (comprised of current Board members who will not be eligible to stand for election) will review the nominations received and select the 26 most suitable candidates to stand for election, who best fit the criteria outlined below.

An election will then be held, in which CIVICUS members with voting rights will elect 13 of the 26 candidates on the ballot paper. The 13 successful candidates will then be elected as the new Board of Directors, taking up their positions in November 2013 for a three-year term. The first meeting of the new Board is expected to take place in Johannesburg in the week beginning 11 November 2013. Board members appointed for the first term in 2013 will be eligible to stand for their second, final term again in 2016.

Maurício Santoro, human rights advisor at Amnesty International Brazil speaks on the on-going protests in his country and what they mean for civil society.

1)      Many are connecting the protests in Brazil to the protests in Turkey. Your thoughts?
There is a direct link. When the Brazilian demonstrations began, the activists in São Paulo were shouting: "Turkey is here".  Besides that, there any many similarities, both countries are democracies, with leaders who enjoy high rates of popularity at polls and they are not in economic crises - in contrast with the United States or the European Union. Even so, president Dilma Rosseff and prime minister Recep Erdogan are facing huge demonstrations in the major cities of their nations.

Converting Africa’s impressive economic performance over the past decade into greater gains on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) remains a primary challenge for Africa, according to a new report.

Released today, The MDG Report 2013: Assessing progress in Africa toward the Millennium Development Goals concludes that while Africa is the world’s second fastestgrowing region, its rate of poverty reduction is insufficient to reach the target of halving extreme poverty by 2015.

The progress report, prepared by the African Union Commission (AUC), UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), UN Development Programme (UNDP), and the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), was launched on the final day of the African Union Summit.

Read more at African Brains

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), recognized Wednesday that Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and Peru are the only countries in Latin America to have already achieved the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) related to reducing poverty and malnutrition.

The first of the MDGs – to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger – involves reducing by half the number of people who suffer from malnutrition between the years 1990 and 2012. This was also the biggest challenge to emerge at the World Food Summit.

In addition to the three Latin American nations, several other countries around the world were also recognized by the FAO for reducing poverty and malnutrition: Guyana, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Djibouti, Georgia, Ghana, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Samoa, São Tomé and Principe, Thailand, Turkmenistan, and Vietnam.

Read more at SiBCI