Hungary: Global civil society meeting in Glasgow

?Defining an NGO is not very difficult. You just have to understand Christopher Columbus, who did not know exactly where he was going, when he arrived he did not know exactly where he was and when he got back he did not know exactly where he had been. But he had a great impact on the world ? and he spent somebody else?s money.? The joke of Kumi Naidoo, Secretary General and CEO of CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation set the friendly atmosphere of the 6th World Assembly of the global civil society organization held in Glasgow (United Kingdom) on 21-25 June, 2006.

After World Assemblies held in Mexico City, Mexico (1995), Budapest, Hungary (1997), Manila, The Philippines (1999), Vancouver, Canada (2001) and Gaborone, Botswana (2004) CIVICUS, one of the leading global civil society alliances decided to hold its 6th world assembly in Scotland under the title: Acting Together for a Just World. The title is right as the world today is reluctant to advance considerably on the path which is paved by the development of the world?s poor. And Johannesburg-based CIVICUS is the right organization to address these issues as its main focus lies with development issues. Consequently the majority of the over 700 delegates arrived from developing countries, and the organisers paid special attention to gender equality and the representation of the youth.

During the five days 90 workshops were held based around the main theme and the CIVICUS-defined categories of political, economic, civic and social justice. An electronic voting system with a numeric touchpad distributed to every participant helped effective and immediate polls. In one of the polls participants defined the lack of accountability among political leaders, corruption and the negligence of human rights as the most urgent issues to be addressed. They also identified the global problems of the environment, AIDS and increasing impoverishment as challenges yet to be answered. But participants also thought that global challenges need global responses in which civil society organisations must play a distinctive role irrespective of their operational levels (many times the smallest local organisations can do the most to step up in the interest of the citizens).

Many workshops dealt with the notion of active citizenship and the democratic deficit between institutions and citizens, which, in practical turns would mean that citizenship should not end at people going to cast the vote every now and then (where there are democratic election systems at all). The assembly noted that democratic governance is transparent and accountable and involves citizens. As one of the delegates put it ?civil society organizations makes it possible for citizens to have their voice heard and make an impact on government policies?. The necessity to reform international organisations like the United Nations, the World Bank, WTO was also discussed.
Of course civil society organizations have to develop too. They have some way to go to combat corruption themselves, to develop effective communication techniques, more effective use of existing resources, co-operation among NGOs. The issue of visibility, transparency and accountability of NGOs was discussed in 10 workshops where the recent ?International Non-governmental Organizations Accountability Charter? published by 11 international human rights NGOs was used as a useful background material.

The Budapest-based CIVICUS in Europe co-organised with partners from Niger (African Citizens? Development Foundation), Pakistan (DAMAAN Development Organisation) and the UK (London Civic Forum) a joint programme. Entitled ?Promoting Rights, Responsibilities and Civic Participation for Active Citizenship? the workshop mainly focused on the circumstances and resources necessary to develop the notion of active citizenship. During the event the differences in interpreting this term was also discussed.
The next two CIVICUS World Assemblies will be held in Glasgow again in 2007 and 2008.

CIVICUS in Europe:
www.civicusineurope.org/index2.html

CIVICUS Global:
/www.civicus.org

CIVICUS World Assembly:
www.civicusassembly.org