BCSDN short documentary shows you what brought together 15 civil society organizations from 10 countries in Southeast Europe. With the mission to empower civil society and influence European and national policies towards more enabling environment for civil society development, our members and Executive office have been working for more 15 years together to contribute to the democratic processes in our countries. In 2012, experts from BCSDN and partner organizations, and with support by the European Center for Not-for-Profit Law, developed a tool called Monitoring Matrix on Enabling Environment for Civil Society Development to influence European Commission’s support to civil society…
Author: anja
States must implement crucial UN Human Rights Council resolution on civil society space, and cooperate fully with the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of assembly and of association. “At a time when governments and non-state actors are actively suppressing civil society voices, this resolution by the world’s premier human rights body articulates key steps to protect and promote civil society rights,” said Dr Danny Sriskandarajah, Secretary General of CIVICUS. “We urge national governments to both inform their publics about this resolution and also begin a process of dialogue with civil society to earnestly implement its provisions.” More information…
The European Union is set to open a dark chapter in its history unless it rejects the European Commission’s proposal on migration, according to a wide coalition of more than 100 CSOs.. Shifting towards foreign policy that serves the single objective of curbing migration, the EU and its member states risk further undermining their credibility and authority in the defense of human rights, the organizations say. They call on European leaders to reject the Commission proposal that would cement this approach, making deterrence and return of people the main objective of the EU’s relationship with third countries. According to the…
The Commission has opened up another part of the EU decision-making process for stakeholders’ input. In line with its commitments under the Better Regulation Agenda and the broad effort to increase transparency in the EU Institutions, as of June 30th, draft delegated and implementing acts will now be put online and open for public feedback for a period of four weeks. This new online feedback tool is part of the Commission’s new, user-centered web presence. Delegated and implementing acts are used by the EU institutions to update elements of adopted legislation or specify the conditions by which EU laws should…
European Committee on Democracy and Governance (CDDG) in cooperation with the Conference of International Non-Governmental Organizations is preparing new guidelines to ensure meaningful civil participation in political decision-making. The guidelines will be addressed to the authorities in Council of Europe member states and will seek to promote sustainable mechanisms for dialogue, consultation and co-operation between them and civil society. In accordance with the CDDG’s decision, a wide public consultation on the draft guidelines is being organized during the summer period before finalizing the guidelines. Civil society and public authorities at all levels are kindly invited to send their comments (in…
The Human Rights and Democracy Network (HRDN) issued a report and a video from the EU-NGO Human Rights Forum on Promoting an Enabling Environment for Civil Society held in December, 2015, prepared by HRDN. The report and the video clip aim to capture the voices and perspectives of civil society participants at the Forum, including the key areas for further work on the theme of civil society space. In addition, BCSDN’s Executive Director Tanja Hafner Ademi her voice on how we can counter the closing space for civil society. The full report is available here, and the video is available…
Under the coordination of International Civil Society Centre, the Steering Group consisting of colleagues from CIVICUS, ICNL, ActionAid, Amnesty International, Oxfam, Rendir Cuentas, VANI, The Africa Platform, The Oak Foundation, the Wallace Global Fund, the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the Open Society Foundations have been leading the development of the Civic Charter – The Global Framework for People’s Participation. Following a wide consultation on the first draft and the integration of this feedback into a second draft the Steering Group and a group of stakeholders – CSO professionals and activists from all over the world – came together in Tanzania…
CPDE is now calling for applications for CSO participation in the Second High Level Meeting (HLM2) of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (GPEDC) to be held in Nairobi, Kenya from November 28 to December 1, 2016. The HLM2 is organized by the Government of Kenya with support from the Global Partnership’s three co-chairs (Malawi, Mexico and the Netherlands), Steering Committee members and the Joint Support Team provided by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the United Nations Development Programme. Accelerated efforts are needed by all partners to unleash the power of youth and women as dynamic…
Despite the many imponderables transfixing domestic politics, it already seems clear that Brexit will have a mainly detrimental effect on Britain’s international role, certainly in the short term. The UK is likely to have less aid money and less influence, while the success of the leave campaign could also signal a more inward-looking agenda. The devil will be in the detail of whatever deal is eventually brokered with the EU. However, as far as aid money goes, damage has already been done. The pound’s precipitous fall has already sliced into the aid budget, and the vote to leave the EU…
BCSDN short documentary shows you what brought together 15 civil society organizations from 10 countries in Southeast Europe. With the mission to empower the civil society and influence European and national policies towards more enabling environment for civil society development our members and Executive office have been working for more 15 years together to contribute to the democratic processes in our countries . In 2012, experts from BCSDN and partner organizations, and with support by the European Center for Not-for-Profit Law, developed a tool called Monitoring Matrix on Enabling Environment for Civil Society Development to influence European Commission’s support to…