Civil society faces global funding crisis
(Originally published by Equal Times)
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Putin has been criticised for clamping down on civil society. Photo by Kremlin.ru |
Six out of seven people live in countries in which civic
freedoms are under threat, according to a report by the global alliance of civil society organisations, CIVICUS.
The 2015 State of Civil Society report claims CSOs around
the world face a funding crisis
and have also been affected by attacks on freedom of expression in what CIVICUS chief executive, Dr Dhananjayan
Sriskandarajah, describes as an “untenable situation.”
Head of Policy and Advocacy
at CIVICUS, Mandeep Tiwana, told Equal
Times CSOs have struggled to cope
on the frontline of numerous major humanitarian emergencies over the past year,
including the Ebola crisis and the bombing of Gaza:
“Although civil society
organisations (CSOs) have been consistently proving their value in relation to
global crises including humanitarian relief in disaster situations, conflict
resolution, post conflict reconstruction and addressing the pervasive global
democratic deficit, the civil society sector as a whole is facing serious
resourcing challenges.”
“These include a paucity of
funds especially for smaller CSOs to ensure their long term sustainability as
well as restrictive regulatory environments that impede resource-mobilisation
from domestic as well as international sources.”
The report also found that
state funding for civil society is worryingly low; out of the $166 billion spent on official
development assistance (ODA or aid) by OECD-DAC countries in 2013, only 13%, or
$21 billion, went to civil society.
Some human rights
workers claim part of the reason for this is that governments are aiming to undermine and restrict
funding to CSOs which express dissent and campaign to change policy. In an
essay entitled The Clamp Down on Resourcing, Maina Kiai, United Nations Special
Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association,
writes that “Cutting financial resources off is an easy way for a government to
silence a CSO that’s a bit too critical…”
Kiai cites the example of Ethiopia which enacted a law in
2009 prohibiting CSOs from working in gender and children’s rights from
receiving more than 10% of their funding from foreign sources.
Other culprits include Pakistan, Turkey and Russia where President Vladimir Putin was criticised earlier this year by Amnesty International for introducing a law which brands foreign organisations in Russia "undesirable" if they are deemed to present a threat to Russia’s constitutional order or security.
Marta Pardavi, a leading
Hungarian human rights advocate, told Equal
Times that CIVICUS’s findings are also consistent with the experience of organisations
in Hungary.
Other culprits include Pakistan, Turkey and Russia where President Vladimir Putin was criticised earlier this year by Amnesty International for introducing a law which brands foreign organisations in Russia "undesirable" if they are deemed to present a threat to Russia’s constitutional order or security.
“The
independent NGO sector that is reliant on foreign funding and often voices
advocacy positions critical of government policies, is facing a series of
unprecedented government agency controls, such as tax investigations, as well
as being labelled with discrediting political insinuations,” said Pardavi.
“Coping
with all these attacks, unfounded criticism and legal actions pose extra burdens
on many NGOs making it more difficult to perform project tasks and also results
in the politicization of essentially non-partisan activities.”
Dr Dhananjayan
Sriskandarajah, Secretary-General of CIVICUS, said that the global trends
regarding civil society are deeply concerning:
“Despite the incredible work that civil society does, it remains under attack. In 2014 alone, we documented serious violations of `civic space’ – the freedoms of expression, association and assembly – in a staggering 96 countries around the world,” Dr Sriskandarajah said.
“To
make matters worse, organisations that need funds the most, largely based in
the Global South, receive only a fraction of the billions of dollars of funding
that goes to the sector. It’s an untenable situation. Many funders know that
civil society is doing essential work but we need more bravery from them to
ensure the survival of those on the frontline,”
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