INTERNATIONAL CIVIL SOCIETY WEEK (ICSW) 2014 | RMA

19TH - 25TH NOVEMBER, 2014

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA

SESSIONS ATTENDED ON 21ST AND 22ND NOVEMBER, 2014

INTRODUCTION

The International Civil Society Week (ICSW) is an annual event organized by CIVICUS and its partners. CIVICUS is a registered non-profit organization based in Johannesburg, South Africa and its main aim is to ensure the growth of civil society in South Africa and beyond. The Human Rights Centre Uganda (HRCU) was able to participate in this year’s (2014) events on recommendation of the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders’ Project (EHAHRDP) with the support of Amnesty International, which is an internationally recognized non-governmental organization opposing human rights violations worldwide.

The assembly/week’s events had the specific objective of providing a space for inclusive dialogue to deepen collaboration and solidarity between local, national and international civil society for the delivery of innovative and impactful campaign activities. It also aimed at creating an inspiring and creative space to share learning and best practices from campaign action teams and to identify gaps within civil society work and create links for deepening networking and collaboration for better performance, and to prepare plans to implement action/2015 activities in communities throughout the world.

FRIDAY 21ST NOVEMBER 2014

The events begun with a grand reception on the evening of Friday 21/11/2014 at the University of Witwatersrand, Braamfontein Campus in Johannesburg. Thereafter, the official opening ceremony took place in the main auditorium where about 500 participants from about 100 countries were hosted. Once the participants had been welcomed, there was only one key note speech from Graca Machel, widow of the late Nelson Mandela Madiba. She mentioned that the power and ability to change the world lies in the hands of the citizens; that it is they that have the creative ideas that can influence decisions and create a better world. She asked the participants to take care not to waste any time as it is a very valuable resource, adding that the focus should be on the post 2015 development agenda.

According to her, governments across the world have to invest in human capital rather than having very large budgets on security and other items – the same strength and resources have to be put in helping people to become better citizens in terms of education, health and other standards so that they can live to create change in their different societies. She decried the ancient tradition of despising and belittling the efforts of women noting that in this time and age, women have equal capacity as men to influence change; that they should be granted equal opportunity to participate in all the sectors and affairs of their governments.

She implored the participants to be able to identify their various challenges which will in turn constitute global challenges and at the end be able to discuss realistic trends and best strategies for addressing them. She added that there it is important aim at success but that success can never be measured by the level of per capita growth or income. Rather, it should be measured basing on the number of lives that have been changed from poor to healthier/better living conditions; that it was useless to say that success was evident in a country yet over 60% of the population was living under the poverty line. She concluded by stating that each of us has a dream and power/ability to turn that into reality and that instead of looking up to what the late Mandela achieved, everyone should work towards developing their own legacy so that when they are gone, they shall be remembered for the change they caused.

SATURDAY 22ND NOVEMBER 2014

On Saturday 22/11/2014, official registration of participants took place and parallel sessions were held. I was able to attend and participate in two sessions organized by Amnesty International i.e. one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. 

MORNING SESSION:

The morning session began at 0930hrs with opening remarks made by Thomas Schultz-Jagow – the Senior Director of Campaigns and Communications at Amnesty International who gave a general overview of the week and also informed the participants that this year’s activities were focusing on the post 2015 agenda; that as civil society, there was need to think of new ways of combating the trend of criminalization of dissenting voices of civil society within the different governments. He called on the participants to be as free as possible in their interactions as that would shape the discussions not only during the civil society week but also thereafter.

Five presentations were made during the morning sessions three of which focused on the situational analysis of the state of criminalization of dissent in the East and Horn of Africa; Canada and Ethiopia. Highlights were given and discussed of the critical examples of what civil society organizations are doing to combat the criminalization trend. The other two presentations were on security for human rights defenders and civil society actors particularly on how to protect themselves from harmful Software on their computers and other devices and how to use the Panic button in cases where they need emergency assistance in the course of their work.

From all the presentations, the trend related to:

1. Criminalization of dissent has been mostly manifested in form of restrictions on the freedom of speech and association/assembly.
2. The space for civil society to conduct their work is shrinking greatly
3. Limited funding and threats by governments to legislate against NGOs receiving funding beyond certain amounts from the international community e.g. the Statues Law Miscellaneous Amendment Bill in Kenya and the NGO Act Amendment Bill, 2014 in Uganda
4. Criminalization of dissent has mostly targeted those in opposition with many of their freedom to speak and to move freely or participate in public debates being greatly hindered and undermined.
5. Human rights defenders and civil society actors working on “sensitive issues” such as extractive industries and land have been most at risk.
6. There has been a retreat from the previous state and in many African countries, criminalization occurs towards elections or change of governments.
7. Leaders all over the continent are fearful of the strength and creativity of civil society.
8. In some instances, there has been break-ins into offices and hacking into emails of human rights defenders and civil society actors with the result that a lot of vital information has been stolen or destroyed.
9. Governments have come up with new models designed specifically to clampdown the work of civil society and these have acted to critically monitor them up to the lowest levels. One of the ways through which this has been manifest is “afro-radicalism” in a sense that governments are forcing people to keep silent about certain issues to show love for their countries
10. Politicization of cultural dynamics
11. Digital space is also increasingly being targeted

What has civil society done to combat the trends of criminalization?

1. Working in small groups e.g. Women Human Rights Defenders
2. Collaboration with and regular engagement of major stakeholders
3. Built strategic partnerships and collaborations that have resulted in strategic campaigns
4. There’s strength in numbers and we need to win the support of the citizens
5. Media campaigns in form of radio talk shows, newspaper supplements and televised debates
6. Sensitization workshops so that the citizens are aware of their rights and therefore able to demand for the same
7. Cross referral mechanisms
8. Development and use of Mobile Alert Systems for HRDs in imminent danger
9. Strategic litigation of cases involving civil society actors and HRDs
10. Investigative research
11. Writing and presenting petitions to the relevant stakeholders so that issues affecting citizens can be addressed.

What is the way forward?

1. Use the available tools e.g. the Human rights defenders song (s) and audio messages
2. Develop a quick legal help/response system
3. Create an email/Google group for continuous discussions and information sharing amongst the members
4. Standing together as one and owning the cause or campaign because there is strength in numbers. People who work in isolation usually prone to attacks.
5. Intense advocacy
6. Research on the emerging trends within civil society work

AFTERNOON SESSION:

The second session that took place from 2-4pm was on the post 2015 agenda that stresses matters of accountability by all governments. The following were some of the points highlighted from the discourse:

1. There is need to hold the private sector and other actors at the national level accountable for the development trends in the various continents.
2. Inclusive justice should be given priority due to its impact on society and once that is attained, development will be easily evident.
3. It is important that citizens have legal participation to see that the laws are changed where need be to allow access to justice.
4. There is no way governments can say that they are advancing if the citizens are still living in poverty situations. It therefore becomes necessary to address all concerns and see to it that measures are put in place to eradicate poverty – only then can one talk of progress.
5. The right to information is paramount.
6. Youth engagement is a very important element of the discourse and there is need to have a clear distinction between active youth engagement and critical engagement. Critical engagement is the way to as it empowers the youth to ask hard questions e.g. questions around land evictions. It’s not just about representation but real action.
7. In order to realize human rights and fundamental freedoms, there has to be a socio-international order.
8. Some more collaboration is needed.

The event was an opportunity for HRCU to expand its network of HRDs across the globe.