World Alliance for Citizen Participation

A Free Weekly Newsletter Promoting Civic Existence, Expression & Engagement Please send contributions, comments and questions to editor@civicus.org

31 July 2009 ISSUE No. 449 PUBLISHER CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Devendra Tak Ingrid Srinath EDITORS Jessica Hume Daniel Gray OCCASIONAL CONTRIBUTORS Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane Carol Baloyi Ciara O'Sullivan Judith Seda Henri Valot Mandeep S. Tiwana Tania Gobena Vicente García-Delgado ABOUT e-CIVICUS  The CIVICUS weekly electronic publication is keeping tens of thousands of people informed of the developments taking place in civil society, the factors that are affecting them and the impact they are having on creating an informed and knowledgeable civil society.  e-CIVICUS WELCOMES CONTRIBUTIONS  e-CIVICUS offers a useful channel through which you and your organisation can share your news, publicise your events and articulate the issues you face. Please send us your contributions by Monday for publication in the coming week to editor@civicus.org. All contributions must focus on civil society issues or have a civil society angle. To read the contribution guidelines, click here.  REPRODUCTION OF e-CIVICUS The content of this newsletter can be translated into another language and reproduced in other publications, as long as due acknowledgment is made to CIVICUS.  e-CIVICUS DISCLAIMER Although CIVICUS makes all reasonable efforts to obtain prima-facie reliable content for  e-CIVICUS, CIVICUS cannot guarantee the accuracy of the reports, views or opinions of third-party content providers, nor does CIVICUS necessarily endorse the views reflected therein.  CONTACT US P.O. Box 933 Southdale, 2135  South Africa  Tel: +27 11 833 5959 Fax:+27 11 833 7997 1112 16th Street NW, Suite 540  Washington D.C.  20036 USA Tel: +202 331-8518 Fax: +202 331-8774 Websites: www.civicus.org www.civicusassembly.org To watch videos and CIVICUS initiatives on Zimbabwe, click here.  To subscribe or unsubscribe: email subscriptions@civicus.org TELL A FRIEND Would you like to share this newsletter with a friend? Please forward their e-mail address to subscriptions@civicus.org Support CIVICUS To make an on-line donation click here. Join CIVICUS Join or renew your CIVICUS Membership on-line now click here.  Civil Society Watch Monthly Bulletin The CIVICUS e-newsletter Civil Society Watch Monthly Bulletin  is an action-oriented newsletter distributed to over 7,400 people, featuring insightful interviews, updates on threats to civil society, and analyses of current situations. Read more at http://www.civicus.org/csw. CIVICUS channel on YouTube: ‘Time 2 Act’ Go to YouTube, click here. CIVICUS' 1 for 1 membership campaign Are you one of the missing 86? One CIVICUS member for every UN member state, that’s the goal of CIVICUS’ 1 for 1 Membership campaign, click here.

FROM THE DESK OF CIVICUS' SECRETARY GENERAL Humanising Development - Global photography campaign I am proud to inform you that CIVICUS is partnering with the UNDP for an unique photography campaign which will hopefully provide a new perspective to how development is seen? How can you portrait the human face of the development processes? How do you show that development initiatives and programmes improve the lives of people? This Global Photography Campaign aims to show examples of people winning the battle against poverty, social exclusion and marginalisation. It is intended to raise awareness of the successes in the development process. The campaign is intended to counterbalance the frequently shown images of desolation and despair. A photo gallery will to be permanently located at IPC-IG office and open for public visitation. A series of photo exhibitions will also be organised in several cities around the world. Let’s promote and share successful development initiatives! CIVICUS will announce more event-related information through e-CIVICUS and our website. Watch out for a Johannesburg-based exhibition sometime in September this year! To look at the campaign poster and for more details, please click here. Call for proposals: CSI Impact Assessment The CIVICUS Civil Society Index Programme is pleased to announce its Call for Proposals for the upcoming CSI Impact Assessment of the Phase from 2003-2006. To read more, click here To view the CSI blog, click here CIVICUS Poll Question This week’s question: Readers’ recommendations for e-CIVICUS: a. It should be shorter b. It can improve its look c. Its content needs to be more focussed d. It need not be a weekly e. It’s fine the way it is! To answer the question, click here. Previous question: Do you believe like Ingrid Srinath (CIVICUS’ SG) that by the next decade CIVICUS will a. Have a truly global presence b. Lead in fostering voices from civil society c. Bridge linguistic, geographical and power divides d. All of the above Results: a. - 11.1%, b. - 11.1%, c. - 11.1%, d. - 66.7% Become a CIVICUS Facebook fan and get updates on our activities right in your news feed! Join the CIVICUS Facebook group and engage with other CIVICUS supporters! Watch our videos on http://www.youtube.com/user/civicusworldalliance JOIN e-CIVICUS - BECOME A CONTRIBUTOR e-CIVICUS keeps tens of thousands of people and organisations informed of the many developments taking place in civil society around the world. This e-publication seeks to encourage and amplify the voices of those struggling for a more just world. Why don’t you suggest that your friends register for a free subscription? They can send an email to subscriptions@civicus.org or fill out the subscription form here. Alternatively, please forward their email addresses to us and we’ll contact them on your behalf. Please send your contributions by Monday every week to editor@civicus.org. All contributions must be focused on civil society issues or have a civil society angle. CIVIL SOCIETY NEWS Civil society facing the toughest of times By Charles Kabonero, Communication Intern, CIVICUS The crisis that has characterised Iran following the disputed July elections, has adversely affected the Asian country’s political and social fabric but especially civil society that continues to face more suppression, threats and abuses. The atmosphere of fear in Iran and other countries like Russia, Nicaragua, and China suggest that the civil society globally, is facing the toughest of times. To read more, click here. DemocracyAlert: World Movement Participant Arrested in Kyrgyzstan Source: World Movement for democracy According to the Women’s Learning Partnership (WLP), World Movement participant and human rights activist Tolekan Ismailova along with three other activists was arrested yesterday while calling on the government to release 87 individuals, who have protested the contested presidential elections. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) claims that the July 23rd elections did not meet key OSCE commitments. According to the OSCE, the voting process was marred by many problems and irregularities, including ballot box stuffing, inaccuracies in voter lists, and multiple voting. For details, click here. Office of human rights group raided by Russian police Source: Fox News.com Russian police raided the office of a human rights group in central Tatarstan region, confiscating computers and detaining the director in a fresh blow to the country's beleaguered rights movement. The raid Monday night on the Kazan Human Rights Center in the Tatarstan's capital was staged just days after a rights activist was killed in the southern province of Chechnya. Tatarstan police described it as a routine search and part of an investigation into possible tax violations, saying it did not concern the group's human rights work. For details, click here. UN rights committee said set to censure Azerbaijan Source: Reuters United Nations experts are set to censure energy-rich Azerbaijan over its human rights record after suggesting it was in denial over violations of global rights pacts, officials and diplomats said on Wednesday. They said the critique, which could be harsh, was likely to be formulated in recommendations to the government in Baku on what it should do to clean up its act. It would be issued on 31 July by the U.N.'s watchdog Human Rights Committee. For details, click here. Zimbabwe: Fear of more mass evictions in Harare Source: Amnesty International Thousands of people in Harare face mass eviction from their market stalls and homes. Most of the targeted people were victims of the 2005 mass forced evictions that left about 700,000 people without homes or livelihood or both. Four years on, the authorities now want to forcibly re-evict some of these people. For details, click here. Mugabe 'committed to power sharing' Source: BBC News Zimbabwe's President, Robert Mugabe, is committed to a power-sharing deal, according to the chairman of his Zanu-PF party. Eight years ago the BBC was banned from reporting from Zimbabwe and since then there have only been undercover reports. The Zimbabwe Government has told the BBC there is no ban on its operations and it can resume reporting, legally and openly, in Zimbabwe. For details, click here. Saying goodbye to Natasha Estemirova Source: The New Republic Two weeks ago, Natasha Estemirova, a human rights activist in Chechnya, was kidnapped and murdered. A fierce defender of those victimised by the region's conflicts, Estemirova joins Anna Politkovskaya and others on a growing list of Russian activists slain for revealing dark truths about lawlessness in Chechnya. We asked Usam Baysaev, a journalist and activist, to remember his friend. For details, click here. The African Grantmakers Network is launched Source: Trust Africa Ghana, Accra: “The African Grantmakers Network will change the face of global philanthropy. And it will happen right here in Africa”, said Sarah Mukasa, Director of Programmes at the African Women’s Development Fund, at a meeting organised to establish a network of African grantmakers. After years of careful planning, preparations, consultations and meetings, the AGN was launched in Accra at a meeting convened by the African Women’s Development Fund, TrustAfrica and the Kenya Community Development Foundation—and attended by key African grantmakers. For details, click here. GLOBAL INSTITUTIONS UPDATE Political interference mars justice in Venezuela, says UN rights expert Source: UN News Centre An independent United Nations human rights expert today described the situation of justice in Venezuela as “worrying,” citing political interference with the work of judges and prosecutors in the South American nation. Leandro Despouy, the UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, expressed particular concern over the removal of some provisional judges and prosecutors, without cause, without procedure and without effective judicial recourse. To read more, click here Security Council votes unanimously to authorise mandate extension for African Union-United Nations hybrid operation in Darfur Source: UN Security Council The Security Council voted unanimously this morning to extend the mandate of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) for one year, demanding that parties to the conflict in the western Sudanese province immediately put an end to the violence, including attacks on civilians, peacekeepers and humanitarian personnel. Adopting resolution 1881 (2009), the Council called for an immediate cessation of hostilities and for all parties to commit to a sustained and permanent ceasefire. Requesting the Secretary-General to consult with the parties with a view to developing a more effective ceasefire-monitoring mechanism, it also underlined the need for UNAMID to report on instances of violence that could undermine peace efforts. For details, click here. BOOKS, REPORTS & RESOURCES Applying Human Rights Standards 101 Source: Center for American Progress The United States has arguably been the most influential country in developing the international human rights regime, but it is also the most reluctant of any democratic country to apply these same standards at home. Since signing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, the United States has failed to ratify key human rights treaties, and declared those it has signed to not be legally enforceable without enabling legislation. For details, click here. A New Beginning: Genesis Facility announces an Earth Stimulus Package Source: Genesis Facility Our planet is at a crossroad. The economic divide between the developing and developed nations has deepened while the planet’s life support system is heading toward collapse. In the developing world, over $ 70B in foreign aid is being spent annually and yet extreme poverty and hunger are spreading. In the developed world, financial market chaos is causing massive unemployment, acute credit shortages and rapid economic decline, precipitating an almost 10 per cent drop in world trade and the largest capital withdrawal in history. To read the bulletin, click here. Global CSO Campaign for Effective UNCAC Review Mechanism Source: UNCAC Coalition Adoption of an effective, transparent and inclusive review mechanism for the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) is the target of a major campaign led by the UNCAC Coalition. The Coalition, a global CSO network that was formed in 2006, is calling on CSOs to sign on to a Coalition Statement and to send it to their governments ahead of a critical pre-Conference negotiating session in Vienna on 25 August - 2 September 2009. The deadline for organisations to sign up to the Statement (to be found on www.uncaccoalition.org) is 20 August 2009. Following the Vienna meeting in August, governments will be gathering in November 2009 at the Conference of States Parties in Doha, Qatar to decide on the terms of reference for the UNCAC review mechanism. For details, click here.  CONFERENCES, COURSES & EVENTS Opportunities in Challenging Times – A workshop for NGOs 12 - 13 August 2009, Secunderabad, India After an overwhelming response to the first workshop at Mumbai in May 2009 which was a huge success, CSO Partners is happy to announce the second workshop in the series “Opportunities in Challenging Times” at Hyderabad during 12 - 13 August 2009. The Global economic crisis has impacted different sectors of the Indian economy in different ways. Civil Society Organisations are no exception. How have CSOs been affected? What are the unexplored opportunities in the current scenario? Do you have the necessary skills to explore and exploit these opportunities to emerge as winners? How do we face the realities of managing an NGO effectively and efficiently in tough times like these? For details, click here.  CALL FOR PAPERS, SUBMISSIONS, SURVEYS & NOMINATIONS 2009 Global Development Awards and Medals Competition Source: Global Development Network The Global Development Network (GDN) is now accepting submissions for its annual competition for development research proposals/papers and development projects. Researchers and NGOs from developing and transition countries are invited to participate in the competition. The competition is generously funded by the Ministry of Finance, Government of Japan and other donors. The competition focuses on key issues such as globalisation, regional integration, climate change and international migration against the backdrop of the current global economic and financial crisis, the political and economic repercussions of which can already be felt across countries and regions. The impact of these crises on the architecture of developing countries cannot be understated. They have prompted many to challenge globalisation and they are also likely to hasten the structural shift in global economic power from Western countries to emerging markets. For details, click here. APPOINTMENTS This week, new civil society job openings have been added to the CIVICUS website. Please click here. Should you wish to publish a New Vacancy, please click on Add job. Please add an expiry date for applications. JOBS OF THE WEEK Every Human Has Rights (EHHR) Campaign Officer Application Deadline: 14 August 2009 CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation Johannesburg, South Africa For details, click here. Policy adviser, mdgs, social policy and civil society empowerment Application Deadline: 03 August 2009 United Nations Development Programme Regional Centre Cairo (RBAS RCC), Egypt For details, click here. Communications Officer Application Deadline: 10 August 2009 European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad) Location: Brussels, Belgium For details, click here. CONTACT e-CIVICUS e-CIVICUS is a free weekly online publication keeping tens of thousands of people, organisations and programmes informed of the many developments and factors that affect civil society and their impact on creating a more just world. We value your comments and suggestions. Please send these to the Editorial Team at editor@civicus.org. Unsubscribe: To unsubscribe from e-CIVICUS, get a password reminder, or change your subscription options by entering your subscription email address: Click here.