By Ingrid Srinath, CIVICUS Secretary General. Issued Date: e-CIVICUS 398, 16 July 2008 - When I was a teenager, in Mumbai, India, my parents hired a new maid. She was exactly the same age as I was, but unlike me, had never been to school. While I probably attributed my academic ‘success’ to my own hard work, and my parents probably believed they’d paid for it through theirs, the stark reality was that my education had been paid for by our new maid and her brothers and sisters all over India. Hundreds of millions whose life choices were limited virtually from birth by a deeply entrenched system of privilege that, for instance, granted me access to a subsidised education all the way up to the post-graduate level, while excluding her from even basic literacy.   more »

By Ingrid Srinath, CIVICUS Secretary General. Issued Date: e-CIVICUS 397, 9 July 2008 - This issue of e-CIVICUS goes to press as the G8 meeting winds down in Japan. The inclusion of the O5 countries as guests went some way towards redressing the melanin deficit in the club of the planet’s most powerful, but continued to present a chromosomally-challenged picture. It is no surprise therefore that the outcomes represent not simply lack of progress, but several steps backward on the issues that most affect the majority of civil society.   more »

By Ingrid Srinath, CIVICUS Secretary General. Issued Date: e-CIVICUS 396, 2 July 2008 - The crisis of democracy and human rights in Zimbabwe is a stark, ongoing reminder of the inadequacies of political leadership and civil society in Africa and around the world. While ordinary Zimbabweans fight a life and death struggle for their basic human rights and for their rights to democratic voice, the rest of us - politicians, civil society organisations and the media - seem to be able to do little more than wring our hands in despair and issue appeals for sanity and balance. Despite the clamour of voices seeking decisive action from African governments, especially in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries, an ‘election’ that most people agree was an utter sham of democracy has been conducted and a victor declared with utter impunity.   more »

By Ingrid Srinath, CIVICUS Secretary General. Issued Date: e-CIVICUS 395, 27 June 2008 - The 8th CIVICUS World Assembly in Glasgow was, in my view, momentous in more ways than one. Marking the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the World Assembly provided a grim reminder of the growing threats to civil society globally, whilst simultaneously highlighting the opportunity to build partnerships and alliances of unprecedented width and depth.   more »

By Ashraf Patel, Independent Development Policy Analyst. As global leaders meet at the G-8 Sapparo in Japan this week, the spectre of super high food and fuel prices further blots an already gloomy economic outlook. This news is bound to burden Africa’s ‘development agenda’ at the G-8 which is already grappling with stalled trade talks, aid effectiveness, fighting HIV-Aids, meeting MDG ’s and expanding infrastructure development.   more »

By Renate Bloem, CIVICUS UN Representative in Geneva. The recent CIVICUS World Assembly promoted and discussed human rights, particularly reflecting on the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It also lent support to a campaign focusing on the realisation of the Declaration - “Every Human Has Rights” led by the influential group, the Council of Elders. These discussions led me to think more about how we can further promote and deepen civil society’s engagement with international human rights processes, such as those at the United Nations.   more »

By Archbishop Njongo Ndungane, President and Founder of African Monitor. The Group of Eight (G8) summit has come and like other previous summits gone. A lot of anticipation preceded this year’ summit against a backdrop of an escalation of the usual problems and new challenges bedeviling the world, particularly the African continent.   more »

By Tanzilya Salimdjanova, CIVICUS Civil Society Watch programme. "Our voice from our region is very weak because we do not unite. At the international level we try to work independently, focusing on our internal country issues, and ignoring the fact that we have a lot in common. We should develop a platform for our voices to be heard at the global level", says Anara Moldosheva, a gender expert from Kyrgyzstan.   more »

By Kumi Naidoo. In ten days time, Zimbabwe will be holding its national harmonised elections, combining the presidential, parliamentary, senate and local elections. The last election in March 2005 was marred by state violence against voters and civil society activists, and severe silencing of the media. Tragically, in the three years since, the situation has continued to worsen for both activists as well as the average Zimbabwean citizen. Food shortages have increased, inflation has skyrocketed and repression of civil society actors has become even more heavy-handed.   more »

14 March, 2008: Ingrid Srinath, currently Chief Executive of Child Rights and You (CRY) in Mumbai, India, will take over from Kumi Naidoo and assume the position of Secretary General-Elect of CIVICUS on 1 May 2008. “The CIVICUS Board believes that Ingrid possesses all the right skills to develop the organisation in the years to come. She brings valuable experience and a fresh perspective to this global family of civil society and I am convinced she will energise the movement we began.” said Anabel Cruz, CIVICUS Board Chair. Kumi Naidoo, who has served as Secretary General since 1998, will step down as Secretary General at the end of July following a 3 month hand over period, after which time he will remain highly involved in the work of CIVICUS as the new Honorary President. Kumi led CIVICUS though a period of intense global change.   more »

By Kumi Naidoo, CIVICUS Secretary General. When activists were tortured at the hands of the South African Apartheid state police, we looked to the democratic countries of the world to condemn police brutality and call on our government to abide by internationally recognised human rights. Because of their active criticism of the use of torture, countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada, among others, were able to use their relatively clean records to shame and pressure the South African state. While it is debatable whether these countries may have employed clandestine torture in covert politics of the cold war, none of them publicly acknowledged or condoned its use. And because of this, they were able to use their “moral authority” (premised supposedly on democracy and freedom) to influence the less democratic states. In a frightening turn, however, torture has made its way back into the public debate, with the governments that supposedly advocate democracy and freedom at the helm of its defence.   more »

GCAP celebrates International Women’s Day calling for Gender Equality to End Poverty By Kumi Naidoo, Ana Agostino & Sylvia Borren, GCAP Co-Chairs e-CIVICUS 278: 5 March 2008 Dear Friends and Colleagues, The words Gender Equality to End Poverty will resonate around the world as part of International Women’s Day celebrations on 8 March. Marching to the door of parliament in Dhaka Bangladesh, presenting a new Women’s Charter Against Poverty in India, debating gender policy in communities across Peru, driving the ‘Future Without Poverty’ campaign bus to hospitals where maternal mortality rates are high in Georgia, or simply mailing an e-card to your government representatives, are just some of the actions led by GCAP coalitions in over 50 countries this weekend.   more »

Potentials (and Pitfalls) of Gender Mainstreaming By Julie Middleton , member of CIVICUS Gender Task Force Gender mainstreaming. It’s a phrase that is often used in development work and civil society organisations. International organisations and agencies - such as the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Labour Organisation (ILO), among others - all have gender mainstreaming policies.   more »

I have been privileged for the last 17 years to be the Director of a United Nations, ECOSOC accredited NGO, PDHRE, The People’s Movement for Human Rights Learning (Formerly : people’s Decade for Human Rights Education), working both at the policy level with Member States and directly and indirectly with numerous civil society organization, those advocating their specific issues within the UN, be it at the General Assembly, the various Councils, Agencies and Committees. If civil society is to be responsible to its overarching missions and be accountable to their constituencies, we must make an effort to understand and analyze the social accountability of the UN and take actions to enforce it.   more »

Conduct a Google search on “Social Accountability” and you will mostly get references to corporate social accountability and the social accountability of the World Bank and other intergovernmental organisations; but there is little to be found on the concept as applied to the United Nations.   more »

The UN Secretary General, Mr Ban Ki-moon, signaled in his acceptance speech that the defining mandate of the UN of the 21st century is to strengthen the inter-state system so as to better enable humanity to address global challenges. In this vision, serving humanity is at the heart of the purpose of the UN. It speaks to the growing focus on ‘human security’, the shift in emphasis from reactive to preventive diplomacy, recognition that the sovereign independence of nation states needs to be qualified by the new international norm of the responsibility of states to protect their citizens from genocide or crimes against humanity, and the practical value given to partnerships with civil society and business.   more »

WEDO’s co-founder and founding President Bella Abzug noted, “The Beijing Platform for Action is the strongest statement of consensus on women’s equality, empowerment and justice ever produced by the world’s governments. It is a vision of transformation—of what the world can be for women and men, for this and future generations.”   more »

The issue of the accountability of the United Nations is complex. Consisting of 192 Member States represented by governments of very different forms of political regime from countries of diverse economic and social structures, not to mention unique histories and traditions, it is hardly surprising that no consensus exists among the UN’s membership on the meaning of political concepts and practices such as democracy, participation, accountability and good governance. And yet such political notions are firmly embedded in the discourse of the UN and today surface both explicitly and in its sub-text all the time – and are hotly contested!   more »

Alongside the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO, the United Nations is at the core of today’s international governance. In the course of increasing global challenges governments have burdened the United Nations with more and more mandates and tasks. The UN system now encompasses 17 specialized agencies and related organisations, 14 funds and programmes, 17 departments and offices of the UN Secretariat, 5 regional commissions, 5 research and training institutes and a plethora of regional and country level structures (Delivering as One, Report of the Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel, 9 November 2006, p. 9). Being designed as classical inter-governmental organisations (IGOs), the UN and its entities are only accountable to their member states. Specialized UN entities such as UNDP, UNICEF, UNHCR, WHO and FAO are playing a growing role in key sectors such as peace and security, economic development, health, education and environment, affecting the daily lifes of millions.   more »

An important aspect of social accountability is the ability of citizens to influence decisions and policies that affect them as well as hold accountable those entrusted with the exercise of political power. In order for this to happen there must be an environment in which citizens can participate in decision and policy making processes and are treated as political equals. Among the objectives of the United Nations is to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained. Citizens are likely to demand social accountability when their basic rights are guaranteed.   more »

By Kumi Naidoo, CIVICUS Secretary-General. It is now widely recognised that civil society organisations have a critical role to play in harnessing meaningful community participation in development processes. However, as globalisation becomes a reality in our everyday lives, and with the increasing democratic deficit both at domestic and international levels, the role of civil society must go beyond acting as a catalyst of change at the local level to include pressing for changes in power structures to enable marginalised groups to play a greater role in influencing decisions that affect their lives.   more »

Interested in participatory governance? CIVICUS wants to hear from you! CIVICUS Participatory Governance Programme Needs Assessment Survey for Civil Society Practitioners.    more »

By Kumi Naidoo, CIVICUS Secretary-General. In this week’s column, I would like to focus on the World Social Forum 2007 which is taking place at Kasarani (Moi International Sports Stadium) in Nairobi, Kenya on 20 - 25 January. Several of CIVICUS’ members and partners will take part in the some 1,290 workshops, roundtables and events registered. The Forum will open with a Peace March, from Kibera, possibly Africa’s largest slum, to the central Uhuru Park. CIVICUS is one of many civil society movements who applauded the decision to locate the latest Forum in Africa. It is our hope that this platform will provide an opportunity to address some of the key challenges facing the African continent.   more »

By Diana Eltahawy, CIVICUS Civil Society Networks Coordinator. Given its mission to strengthen civil society and promote citizen action globally, it is difficult to overstate the importance of CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation’s engagement in the World Social Forum (WSF), as the single largest meeting place of civil society actors.   more »

By Kumi Naidoo, CIVICUS Secretary-General. As the year comes to a close, I would like to invite you to reflect with me on some of the highlights that have characterised civil society efforts over the past twelve months.   more »

By Clare Doube, CIVICUS Civil Society Watch Programme Manager Human rights are the framework in which we live and thrive, the check on power being wielded irresponsibly and with immunity, and the assurance of equality and justice for all. Or in theory at least… One only need to quickly glance around the globe, however, at the coup unfolding in Fiji, recent detention of activists in Ecuador, Cuba and Congo, the extensive attacks on civilians in Darfur, and the widespread practices of censoring or intimidating free expression of the media in Turkmenistan, Benin, Vietnam and beyond to know that more action is required - and required now. Human Rights Day on 10 December provides us with an opportunity to reflect on the state of human rights in the world today, and the priorities we must choose to bring about real change. One of the most pervasive and destructive violations is poverty. Poverty is a human-rights issue that requires human-rights based solutions.   more »

By Marianne Buenaventura, CIVICUS Membership Manager. It is a pleasure to have this opportunity to address e-CIVICUS subscribers in this week’s column regarding CIVICUS membership. I would like to begin by acknowledging and thanking our CIVICUS members for their invaluable support, and especially those long-standing members who have supported CIVICUS since its very early days. CIVICUS has succeeded in convening many different sectors of civil society in its various programmes and activities, beginning with the first CIVICUS World Assembly in 1995, later through the Civil Society Index research activities and publications, and more recently through CIVICUS’ current, considerably broader range of programmes and activities. Throughout, our members have been a key enabling force in allowing CIVICUS to pursue its mission of strengthening civil society around the world.   more »

Q. Has NEPAD provided adequate avenues for civil society and other non state actors participation in the African peer review mechanism (APRM)?   more »

By Aruna Rao. Dear members, partners and friends of CIVICUS, I am writing to share with you some updates following the recently held meeting of the CIVICUS Board of Directors in Johannesburg, South Africa.    more »

By Sara Hlupekile Longwe, of the CIVICUS Board of Directors. It is twelve o’clock in the village, and most people have long since gone to bed. Then from one house there is the sound of raised voices, then shouting, and finally screaming. A woman’s shrill voice cries out desperately. ‘God help me! Save me! He’ll kill me! For God’s sake help!’   more »

By Rieky Stuart, of the CIVICUS Board of Directors. The world has changed since 2001, when CIVICUS launched its last strategic plan. We’ve seen the world’s largest ever mobilisations by people in all parts of the world – against the war in Iraq, in favour of ending poverty. We’ve seen rising pressure to curtail individual freedom, and increased surveillance of citizens and their organizations in the name of preventing terror.   more »

"Yes, the process of appointing the UN SG is blurred, as many other processes within the UN system. I am curious to learn about the selection and appointment processes for the UN program heads, let alone the recent Global Compact board. in the 20th of April 2006 Announcement, the UN SG appointed a group of 20 leaders from business, civil society and labour groups to head the GC endeavors. Do we know how? should not we - people of the nations- know? shouldn't civil society representatives be aware? I believe we all should, as part of our social responsibilities and concerns..." Read the response.   more »

CIVICUS has a crucial role to play in bringing civil society organizations together, says Secretary General Kumi Naidoo.   more »

The UN, like all other International Institutions (the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organisation, etc.) is in dire need of substantial reform. Reform, however, means different things to different people. James Paul, of the Global Policy Forum, has noted: ‘The UN needs reform. On that everyone agrees. But people disagree sharply on what kind of reform is needed and for what purpose. NGO leaders aim for a more democratic UN, with greater openness and accountability. Technocrats seek more productivity and efficiency from the UN's staff. Delegates favour reforms that conform to national interests and promote national power. Idealists offer plans for a greatly expanded body that would reduce states' sovereignty. While conservatives push for a downsized UN with sharply reduced powers. Agreement is exceedingly hard to come by.’   more »

Kofi Annan’s second and last term as UN Secretary-General will expire at the end of this year, and the process (if it can be called that) for the selection of his successor is already underway. Unless basic notions of transparency and accountability find their way into the UN Security Council Chamber in the coming months, the next Secretary-General will be chosen, as usual, in near total darkness behind closed doors. Even the Catholic Church, not necessarily a shinning bastion of democratic practices, implements a more democratic procedure when selecting a new Pope: in 1179, Pope Alexander III decreed that all cardinals would have equal vote, with no veto power (www.cnn.com/Specials/1999/pope/selection).   more »

Last week, a delegation from the Global Call to Action Against Poverty visited Daniel Bekele and Netsanet Demissie, both civil society leaders in Ethiopia where they have been held in prison for five months. We met with various civil society leaders and the families of the political prisoners on the first day of our visit. They painted a very troubling picture of the political space available in Ethiopia at the moment.   more »

Before I begin, I would like to sincerely apologize for the length of time it has been since I last wrote this column. My sixth year at CIVICUS included additional responsibilities related to the unprecedented citizen mobilisation around the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP). As a result my body complained severely and I took several weeks of recuperative leave. I often urge civil society activists to remain positive and look at each small victory, and each defeat, as an opportunity for learning and laying foundations for future efforts to create a more just, sustainable, equitable, democratic and peaceful world. My leave gave me a chance to reflect on this and I identified three developments that had a particularly emotional draining impact on me and many other activists last year but also offered an opportunity to learn, reflect and move forward.   more »

Last year, the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) established four key policy demands: debt cancellation, trade justice, a major increase in the quantity and quality of aid and national accountability - focusing mainly on accountability of national governments with regard to realising the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs).   more »

The United Nations is at its most critical moment since the end of the Cold War. Unimaginable new global challenges, from terrorism to climate change and from global diseases, conflicts and catastrophes to economic and social gaps, are advancing at stunning speed, seemingly out of control. The entire UN system is stretched to the limit and profound reforms are needed to make it substantially more functional and more effective. But while the lofty principles of the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights continue to be paid plenty of lip service, governments still find it hard to place the interests of the Commons ahead of narrow national interests. A real effort to strengthen the United Nations through meaningful reform seems unlikely in the current historical circumstances.   more »

Happy New Year! In this, the first column of the year, we have a bold suggestion that we work to make 2006 the year where we improve communication within civil society, from the local to the international levels, with the goal of facilitating greater coherence and coordination without sacrificing diversity and autonomy.   more »