September 20, 2002
"The word 'justice' doesn't feature in the way that the world operates," argues Kumi Naidoo, secretary general of Civicus: the World Alliance for Citizen Participation. Civicus has a membership of 700 organisations and networks representing about 30 000 civil society organisations (CSOs) in 105 countries. As such, it has a huge influence on civil society worldwide.
According to Naidoo, "former super powers continue to exercise disproportionate power on citizens in the developing world". Naidoo defines sustainable development as "the just and equitable harnessing and use of the planet's resources by all the world's people, which recognises our obligations to future generations". However, he contends that civil society's efforts to promote sustainable development are undermined by the inertia and ineffectiveness of global institutions. This is largely because certain, powerful governments undermine the efforts of these institutions, and also partly because their governance arrangements are weighted in favour of economically powerful countries.
As a result, Naidoo says, the planet and its people are being led down an unsustainable path even though there appears to be consensus on the key challenges facing global sustainability.
This problem is compounded by the fact that the sustainability of CSOs is threatened by recent changes at the global level. According to Naidoo, the freedom of many CSOs is threatened because of a curb on civil liberties and the right to associate freely as the result of actions taken by governments in the aftermath of September 11. Visa restrictions, and the racial and religious profiling of activists hinders the participation of people, particularly from poor countries, in global events taking place in developed countries. This makes it difficult for sustained global discussion and action by CSOs.
Naidoo says that intolerance to criticism by many political leaders has limited the space for public criticism and alternative strategies to the current "war on terrorism". At the same time, the shift of resources towards the "war on terrorism" is resulting in reduced development investment.
African CSOs are faced with greater challenges in their endeavours to promote sustainable development. Naidoo lists these as: campaigning and working for democratised governance, dealing with various violent conflicts that threaten sustainability and stability and gender discrimination.
For Naidoo, the biggest regional challenge is "the criminal way in which African countries are held hostage by debt and civil society's role in light of the emergence of the African Union [AU] and the New Partnership for Africa's Development [Nepad]". Several members of Civicus support some of the aims of the AU and Nepad because they strengthen governance, democracy, accountability and economic growth. Civicus would also like to see African CSOs partnering with their governments to achieve these aims. However, it encourages citizen groups to "hold their leaders feet to the fire on issues of accountability, transparency and citizen participation".
According to Naidoo, CSOs can challenge the AU and Nepad to take development in Africa more seriously. Organisations across the continent can play a leadership role by setting up viable strategies to support or contest Nepad. Civicus believes that this kind of interaction between stakeholders is the key to the success of the AU and Nepad.
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