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External event

Conference

EU engagement with civil society and support for human rights

The CSO Forum 2016 will bring together Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) from both the international development and Human Rights constituencies with European Institutions and Member States. The Forum’s purpose is to further the implementation of:

• The EU policy shift towards supporting the enabling environment, participation and capacity of Civil Society as an actor of governance, enshrined in its 2012 Communication “The roots of democracy and sustainable development: Europe’s engagement with Civil Society in external relations”.
• The EU commitment to promote and protect Human Rights, the rule of law and democracy worldwide clearly outlined in the “Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy”, the second iteration of which was adopted in 2015.

This forum is organised back to back with other events such as the Policy Forum for Development, the dialogue with Private Sector representatives, the Development Education and Awareness Raising multi-stakeholders meeting, turning this week into a “Civil Society Week”.

Tapping into the wealth of experience and innovative practices in different constituencies, the Forum’s purpose, as an interactive platform, is to spur a constructive dialogue and gather feedback on best practices in providing support in a complex and evolving context in order to help the EU institutions develop the operational responses to challenges in the field.

As a result, this forum will aim to enhance the concrete implementation of the:

• Three priorities of the 2012 Communication “The roots of democracy and sustainable development: Europe’s engagement with Civil Society in external relations”;
• Three objectives of the 2014-2020 Thematic Programme “Civil Society and Local Authorities”;
• Seven outcomes described in the European Union’s 2012 Strategic Framework on Human Rights and Democracy; and the
• Five objectives of the newly adopted 2015-2019 Action Plan.

ECDPM’s Jean Bossuyt will moderate one of the workshops.