I am writing this from Istanbul, where some 150 delegates from 60 countries around the world, including several CIVICUS members and partners, came together for three days for the first ever Global Forum on Civil Society Law. The Forum, under the leadership of a long-standing and active member of CIVICUS, the International Centre for Not-For-Profit Law, and hosted by another CIVICUS member, the Turkish NGO umbrella body, TUSEV, was aimed at exploring the challenges, opportunities and role of creating more enabling legal frameworks to protect, deepen and expand space for civil society organisations, irrespective of whether they are primarily involved in service delivery, advocacy around policy changes or, at the macro level, working for the democratisation of governance institutions.

One of the questions asked in the forum was simply this: Can law make a difference in terms of having a positive impact on civil society? This is a much more interesting question than first meets the eye or ear. On the one hand, we could point to societies that have experienced conflict, repression or injustice, such as apartheid South Africa or occupied Palestine and see that civic energies can be very strong even without an enabling legal framework or with a repressive legislative framework that seeks to restrict space for civil society organisations. On the other hand, we have seen countries where a more enabling set of laws has created opportunities for the growth of civil society organisations, promoted more progressive taxation frameworks that increase the flow of resources to non-profit organisations, both from individuals and businesses, and created the basis for effective dialogue and engagement between civil society and governing institutions from the local to the national level. However, one caution was noted: while civil society legislation might have primarily enabling provisions to encourage freedom of association, assembly and expression, these often disappear when they are implemented in the context of a weak culture of the rule of law, in favour of the more controlling regulatory aspects that are inevitably present in such legislation.

The timing of this conference could not have been more relevant as there are deep concerns around developments in legislation and clampdowns on civil society around the world. As you can read in more detail below, there are troubling developments in Russia as well as in Ethiopia, where the launch of the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) was banned in July and where two leading GCAP activists have been held without trial for more than three weeks. Law can be both a shield and a sword depending on who is using it, why it is being used and how exactly it is used. While there is uncertainty about these questions, it is in the interests of civil society organisations to try to create not only the most just, enabling and relevant legislative frameworks that encourage an active participatory democracy, but also to monitor its implementation and continually seek to improve such legislation as new innovations emerge or changing needs make it necessary.

CIVICUS’ own programme, Civil Society Watch, is particularly focused on the generic threats to civil society including legislative infringements that are growing in number and having a particularly negative impact on NGOs, some faith-based organisations and many trade unions. Many counter-terrorism measures being promulgated in the name of the strategically weak, so-called ‘War on Terror’ have contributed significantly to this climate and to the legislative interventions that are being made in the supposed ‘defence of democracy’. However, many laws that have been passed under this guise over the past three years have undermined certain fundamental tenets of democracy, have promoted further alienation and fragmentation of people along geographical, religious and cultural lines and, most troubling, have fuelled terrorism and given unnecessary legitimacy and sympathy to those that are associated with particular terrorist actions.

Given this reality, one of the workshops that was held in Istanbul by CIVICUS was a consultation on a global campaign we are developing to create a charter on civil society rights. We are at an early stage of developing this campaign and invite all those who might be interested to join this effort. For now, we simply want to share our thinking, invite your comment and encourage your participation.

Before the next CIVICUS World Assembly, under the theme ‘Acting Together for a Just World’, to be held from 21- 25 June 2006, we aim to produce two resources which will enable civil society around the world to identify gaps and weaknesses in current commitments as well as identify existing good innovative practices. On the basis of this, we hope to hold a global public conversation and campaign to develop what we have tentatively called a ‘Charter of Civil Society Rights’ which would seek to guarantee the rights of expression, association and assembly.

The first of the two resources is a compendium of existing civil society rights committed to, but often sadly largely ignored, by governments at the global level, through organisations such as the United Nations and the International Labour Organisation; at the regional level, through organisations such as the European Union, Organisation of American States and the African Union; and at the national level through some select commitments that show innovation and promise. The purpose of this exercise is simply a recognition that citizens and their organisations have a right to know what commitments have been made in their name. More importantly, it will allow civil society to assess whether governments at the national level are implementing commitments to protect civil society rights around assembly, association and expression, and to look at ways to hold governments accountable.

The second resource is a manual on how to lobby and advance the realisation of these rights at the national, regional and international levels and how to develop ways in which civil society can strategically use existing commitments by government to broaden and deepen civic space.

Initial conversations with civil society organisations around the world over the last six months have yielded a very positive response to the charter, and some individual leaders in governments in both the North and South, while small in number, are keen to explore the possibility of working with civil society to explore even the possibility of a United Nations Convention on Civil Society Rights.

The shape and form that any of this will take will be determined through intensive consultation over the next six months. However, whether it is simply a charter by and for civil society or a protocol, declaration or convention ratified at the UN level, it is important that we recognise that the process by which we develop the document that emerges from the proposed two year campaign is far more important than the product. We should use the campaign process to raise public awareness of our growing concern about the attack on civil liberties, the legitimisation of torture - even by governments in countries that like to believe they are exporters of democracy - and the promotion of an overall fear of insecurity and panic that certain governments in power are using for sometimes blatantly opportunistic reasons.

There is also an urgent need to ensure that through such a campaign, civil society is able to bring some sanity and strategy to how we can create a more safe, secure and just world that genuinely respects democracy and does not give terrorists a victory by suggesting to them that they have become so powerful that we are willing to give up on certain values that are fundamental to our aspirations for a genuine participatory democracy. Objectionable legislation and practices such as detention without trial, house arrests, racial and religious profiling (which I can write a whole encyclopedia about based on my personal experience of traveling extensively for my job in the past four years), undermine democracy and show no evidence of having any impact on making us feel more secure or, in reality, making us more secure.

Please share your thoughts with us about this campaign and let us know whether you would like to get involved. We want to have an open, participatory broad-based campaign that encourages as many civil society organisations and citizens around the world to support this campaign. For more information, please email cswatch@civicus.org.

On behalf of the board of CIVICUS and all my colleagues on the staff here at CIVICUS (all 36 of us), we wish you well in the important work that you are doing to make the world more democratic, just, secure and sustainable.

In solidarity,

Kumi Naidoo