by Andrew Firmin, Acting Research Manager, CIVICUS International Volunteer Day, and the culmination of the 10th anniversary of the International Year of Volunteers, offers an opportunity to emphasise the important role of volunteerism in civic life.

This joint submission from Association for Progressive Communictaion (APC), Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS), CIVICUS, Gender Links Highway Africa Chair in Media and Information Society,  IDASA, ODAC, Right 2 Know, Southern African NGO Network (SANGONet), Section27 and SERI focuses on: freedom of expression; the right to information; freedom from censorship; freedom of the press; the right to privacy; and the importance of affordable access to the internet.

Since the last High Level Forum in Accra, more than 20,000 civil society organisations (CSOs) - including trade unions, women’s groups, youth groups, faith-based organisations and other social movements – in more than 90 countries, have been consulted on the process, agenda and expected outcomes of the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF-4) that is meeting here in Busan.

CIVICUS outlines urgent concerns related to the environment in which civil society activists and human rights defenders operate in the Philippines.