
5 0 April 2016
COLUMNS
T
he UN’s Secretary General, Ban Ki
Moon, has called civil society “the
oxygen of democracy” but its space is
shrinking. This may be jargon, but it
is inspired by a serious threat to
democracy - the undermining of basic rights:
freedom of expression, freedom of association,
and the right to peaceful assembly.
Civicus grandly describes itself as the ‘World
Alliance for Citizen Participation’. It is more
down to earth when highlighting failures to
address this shrinking civil society space.
In recent months environmental and land-
rights activists have been assassinated in
Honduras and South Africa. Civil society organ-
isations in Egypt are being prevented from
receiving funds from foreign sources. In India
the police have repeatedly sought the arrest of
a couple who criticised Prime Minister Narendra
Modi for his role as Gujarat chief minister during
the Gujarat riots in 2002 in which at least 790
muslims (and 250 Hindus) died. The police have
confiscated their passports and blocked their
bank accounts and their homes have been
raided. A woman human-rights defender has
been arbitrarily detained in Bahrain with her
15-month-old son. A new law in Jordan is impos-
ing arbitrary conditions on the formation of civil
society organisations. An activist opposing a
hydropower dam in Cambodia has been given
a suspended sentence.
That is disturbing and unacceptable. How-
ever, some will argue that only happens
elsewhere. But civil society space is shrinking
in Ireland too: different means, same intent.
Civil society organisations here are strangled
with cuts and encumbered with ever greater
levels of bureaucracy such as charity regulation,
lobbying legislation and tendering demands;
and are spending too high a proportion of their
time reporting on endless indicators.
For example our long-standing local not-for-
profit development companies providing
programmes to tackle unemployment and
social exclusion suffered reductions in funding
from €84.7m in 2008 to €48m in 2014 and have
been required to submit detailed competitive
tenders. Most got through the process but
some didn't. Those that did are now bogged
down in an indicator-dominated programme.
The environmental pillar of social partnership
has been under severe pressure due to reduc-
tions in funding arising from cutbacks in the
environment fund and Department of Finance
obstruction.
The Minister for the Environment implied he
was considering removing An Taisce, the larg-
est environmental NGO, which has been critical
of him, from the list of bodies consulted over
big planning applications.
Organisations are bound into service-provi-
sion contracts that preclude criticism of the
state. The structures for engagement with the
State have been dismantled. There is an evident
hostility to and a demonisation of protest and
dissent.
We can’t stand aloof in Ireland from this
global attack on democracy and ostensibly
valued freedoms. Locally, as internationally,
those in power do not want these organisations
giving voice to and mobilising dissent to a
model of development that impoverishes, gen-
erates inequality and destroys the planet we
live on.
Civicus are seeking to foster greater coordi-
nation between civil society organisations to
face down these threats.
Civicus and Human Rights Watch hosted a
meeting of regional and international civil soci-
ety organisations to explore the agenda for a
campaign on these issues. They identified the
need to develop a new positive narrative about
the contribution of civil society to national life.
This seemingly basic step was prioritised in the
face of what was described as ongoing stigma-
tisation and vilification of civil society
organisations.
A second step was to inform the general
public about the nature, causes, and extent of
restrictions on civil society activists and organi-
sations. A third step was to broaden the debate
beyond advocacy organisations and those
working on civil and political rights. They noted
that restrictions are increasingly applied to
anti-poverty and development-focused organi-
sations. Civicus are seeking inputs on how best
to develop this global campaign.
The International Civil Society Centre is the
“global action platform” for international civil
society organisations (ICSOs). It works to sup-
port the “world’s leading ICSOs in maximising
their impact for a sustainable and more equita-
ble world”. It is also initiating a process of
consultation on a ‘Civic Charter’ which it will
launch in October 2016 as a means of building
international solidarity for civil society
organisations.
Some key directions have been suggested,
including the need for new ideas for collective
advocacy to reverse repressive legislation tar-
geting civil society organisations, the adoption
of progressive institutional frameworks for civil
society engagement with Governments, and
the recruitment of eminent persons to demand
the release of unjustly imprisoned civil society
activists.
Civil society in Ireland should prioritise the
re-appropriation of civil society space. It must
participate in these global campaigns and aim
to get international demands tailored to
address how civil society is specifically being
eroded here.
As we face increasingly intractable inequali-
ties and irreversible climate change it is a
political imperative.
Hands off civil society
An international campaigning alliance offers
ideas for Ireland’s overburdened NGOs
OPINION
Niall Crowley
EGALITARIAN
THE
Civil society organisations here are strangled with
cuts and encumbered with ever greater levels of
bureaucracy such as charity regulation, lobbying
legislation and tendering demands