Full Coverage: Civil society

26.02.2007 The GONG and the Croatian Journalist Association (HND) express their opposition to the draft-Law on Classification and Confidentiality of Information, which they claim will further close the state administration and other bodies with public competences to citizens overview and scrutiny.

23.02.2007 The Strategy promoted yesterday by the Department for Cooperation with Nongovernmental Organizations of the Government’s General Secretariat aims to improve the cooperation between the Government and the civil sector.

21.02.2007 Six years after the democratic changes, the non-profit sector in Serbia still waits for legislation that would regulate its work and its relations with the state. Although both Governments that ruled after 2000 announced a new law on citizens’ associations, and in spite of the fact that, by virtue of its acceptance for Council of Europe membership in April 2003 it accepted the obligation to adopt such a law within a year, the legal status of NGOs is still regulated by the old Yugoslav Law on Association of Citizens, Social and Political Organizations and the 1982 Serbian Law on Social Organizations and Citizens’ Associations.

21.02.2007 The citizens, through their activities, contribute to the more comprehensive social development and improved quality and standards of living. The development of the civil sector is of utmost importance for the fundamental, democratic and pluralistic values of a country, as well as to promote the civil awareness for a wider social engagement.

21.02.2007 Kosovo’s civil society was fairly well developed during the 1990s, as society struggled to resist against a decade of severe repression. The post-conflict period had brought about a different kind of struggle for civil society: wrestling to find its place in a newly created reality.

21.02.2007 In the 1990s, the official policies towards non-governmental organizations were marked with suspicion and mistrust. NGOs, especially the ones dealing with troublesome social and political issues and played the role of “watchdog” were considered agents of foreign political interests and, quite often, enemies of the state. One result of such a view was the very unfavourable institutional and legal environment for development of nongovernmental, non-profit sector.

21.02.2007 The history of the emergence and development of the so-called “third sector”, i.e. the mass appearance of non-governmental organizations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as promoters and carries of civil society values, makes for a rather short story. Before the 1992-1995 war, there were the social organizations that acted under the auspices of the state, primarily in the areas of sports and culture, while NGOs as we know them today developed in the second half of the 1990s.

21.02.2007 Over the past 15 years, the civil society in Albania has developed to levels that few people could expect, both in urban and rural areas of the country. With the passing of the law that granted the right to association in 1990, the first NGO was created. Since then, the Albanian civil society has made important strides ahead.

21.02.2007 According to the most general and widely accepted definition, nongovernmental, i.e. non-profit organizations are formal voluntary organizations institutionally separated and independent from the Government which – if they do generate profit – they don’t distribute it among members of owners, but return it to the fundamental mission of the organization.

When we speak about policies towards such organizations, we speak of all Government actions (or lack thereof) directed to create proper environment for their work, primarily in terms of public (legal, institutional, etc.) framework for their work and activities. In spite of the fact that such policies in democratic states are always denoted by the declared goal to promote the development of civil society, in reality it can often be rather restricting for some or all organizations. Read More.

15.02.2007 The Foundation Open Society Institute Macedonia (FOSIM) and the Commission for Protection of Right of Free Access to Information presented the experiences, challenges, dilemmas and achievements of the first five months of implementation of the Law on Free Access to Information.

14.02.2007 "Dalle 'banche armate' alle tesorerie etiche", è stato il titolo del convegno organizzato a Roma lo scorso 3 febbraio dalla Campagna di pressione alle 'banche armate', dalla Rete italiana per il disarmo e dalla Provincia di Roma. "Il senso delle nostre campagne – ha spiegato Giorgio Beretta, coordinatore della Campagna – è la richiesta di coerenza che facciamo a tutti: dalle banche, ai cittadini, alle associazioni, al Governo. "Oggi, in particolare – aggiunge Beretta – chiediamo coerenza agli enti locali, perché affidino il loro servizio di tesoreria ad istituti di credito non coinvolti nel sostegno al commercio di armi". Il convegno è stato il primo appuntamento di "Territori disarmanti", una nuova iniziativa che punta a stimolare il governo nazionale e gli enti locali a promuovere "vere politiche di disarmo" sui territori e ad informare i cittadini sui temi degli armamenti.

12.02.2007 Erwan Fouere, the EU Ambassador to Macedonia, and Vladimir Milcin, the Executive Director of the Foundation Open Society Institute Macedonia (FOSIM), greeted the NGOs at the traditional annual meeting held at Mala Stanica Cultural Centre in Skpoje, on February 8.

08.02.2007 In spite of the fact that a significant body of European legislation was introduced in Kosovo over the past several years, the implementation remains a problem, concludes the one-day conference Responsibility, Equality and Rule of Law: Towards Democratic Future, held yesterday, February 7, in Pristina.

05.02.2007 NEW YORK, Feb 5 (OneWorld) - The women of Iraq, who were nominated along with the founder of a women's-support organization in the country, have been voted OneWorld's People of 2006.