The Cohort on Civic Space was established to identify common commitments to strengthen support to and protection of civil society actors and civic space for democracy. It was officially launched at an online meeting on 5 December 2022 to clarify the process and how workstreams were selected to stakeholders, and to solicit input and reflections on collaboration moving forward.

Civic space is essential for democracy, as democracy is founded in the ability for citizens to organise, participate and communicate to influence the decisions that are taken and structures that emerge in their societies. For citizens to fully exercise their right to the freedoms of expression and association, civic space is needed. To safeguard civic space, states should create and maintain a safe and enabling environment for civil society organisations and human rights defenders.

The expected outcomes from this cohort are: to consider and prepare commitments that address the need to safeguard civic space and relate to cohort workstreams; to encourage joint commitments both domestic and internationally-oriented; and to discuss implementation and share best practices relating to existing commitments regarding civic space made during the first summit.

To achieve their objective and desired outcomes, the cohort divided into six workstreams based on an INCL compilation of all S4D commitments made related to civic space:

Workstream	Lead(s)/Supports	Calls to Action
Using the Anniversary of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders to Strengthen Support to and Recognition of Human Rights Defenders and Civil Society	Country lead: Norway Supported by: Armenia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Kosovo, Latvia, Malta, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States	Promote policies and public statements, for example, joint statements, demonstrating the positive and legitimate role of human rights defenders in promoting human rights, democracy, the rule of law, peace, and sustainable development on the occasion of the 25-year anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. Publicly support the campaign launched by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to release all who are arbitrarily detained for exercising their human rights. Encourage and support national-level monitoring efforts by, inter alia, A-status national human rights institutions in co-operation with human rights defenders, to further the implementation of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders and its underlying rights and to enable official national statistics on the situation of human rights defenders.
Support to Civil Society in Exile	Country lead: Czech Republic, in coordination with the International Center for Not-for-profit Law (ICNL) Supported by: Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Kosovo, Malta, Norway, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States	To share best practices on allowing civil society activists under threat due to their human rights work to timely and safely enter and continue their work in a country of exile. To work to protect civil society activists from threats imposed on them while in exile by the government of the country of origin. To support initiatives to provide legal, administrative (incl. banking) and psychosocial help enabling civil society activists in exile to navigate the new environment so they can effectively continue engaging the country of origin.
OECD DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Assistance	Country lead: Norway Supported by: Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Kosovo, Latvia, Malta, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States	Support and contribute to the dissemination, adherence to and implementation of the Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Assistance. Share experiences from implementing the Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Assistance.
Participation in Decision-Making Processes	Country lead: Norway Supported by: Armenia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Kosovo, Malta, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States	The public, including civil society and national human rights institutions, where appropriate, should have access to draft legislation and be provided with a meaningful opportunity to provide input. The public access to law-making processes, where appropriate, should build on procedures that provide for sufficient timeframes, procedural clarity, and sufficient information in order to make public participation meaningful and efficient. Also, in situations of emergency, where appropriate, the public should be provided with an opportunity to provide input, and states should provide for participatory review of the continued necessity and proportionality of emergency measures.
Advancing International Support for Nonviolent Collective Action	Country lead: United States, coordinated by USAID together with the International Center for Not-for-profit Law (ICNL) and International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC) Supported by: Denmark, Estonia, Kosovo, Malta, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom	Build a community of learning to unpack the value, effectiveness, and needs of movement actors as well as to share relevant lessons from various government partners, multilateral organizations, and civil society organizations. Elaborate a multilateral toolkit within the OECD-DAC Community of Practice that reinforces the OECD DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Assistance by focusing specifically on engagement with and support for nonviolent social movements.
Civic Space at the UN	Country lead: the United Kingdom Supported by: Armenia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Kosovo, Latvia, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, the United States	States commit, including through establishing new, or joining existing groups of likeminded states, to defend and improve language on civil society inclusion across the UN system, ensuring that attempts to exclude civil society actors are unsuccessful. States agree to work to improve the ECOSOC NGO Committee processes, making use of existing working methods and the possibility of reform, to ensure a pluralism within accredited NGOs. States agree to strive for improvements in the protection of civil society actors who engage in UN processes and the monitoring and reporting of reprisals of individual cases.

Workstreams were selected based on ideas of which would benefit from further focus/visibility and were not already encompassed by other cohorts. The workstreams are especially interested in soliciting input from civil society on how the cohort’s agenda can be realistically advanced during the Year of Action. Each workstream prepared a concept paper that was shared with civil society, followed by opportunities to engage. Find out more about the workstreams and their calls to action on the ICNL website here.

Relevant documents released by the cohort can be found in the links on the righthand side of the page, and any public events are listed below. We invite you to use the contact form on this portal if you have any contributions or corrections regarding this cohort.

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Co leads

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  Czech Republic

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  Norway

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  International Center for Not-for-Profit Law

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Documents

• Cohort Concept Note
• December Meeting Notes
• A Safe and enabling environment for social movements Powerpoint
• UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders Concept Note
• Civil Society in Exile Concept Note
• OECD DAC Recommendation Concept Note
• Participation in Decision-Making Processes Concept Note
• Nonviolent Collective Action Concept Note
• Civic Space at the UN Concept Note