|
22-25
May 2007
| |
Prof. Bahru Zewde Welcoming Statement
Welcoming Statement
Our Guests of Honour in the Opening Ceremony Panel!
Representatives of Civil Society Organizations!
Participants of the Civil Society Conference!
Other Invited Guests!
On behalf of the organizers – Forum for Social Studies (FSS), the
Organization for Social Justice in Ethiopia (OSJE) and the Union of
Ethiopian Civil Society Associations (UECSA) – as well as on my own
behalf, I would like to welcome you all to this Conference on “Creating
an Enabling Environment for Civil Society in Ethiopia”.
The organizers of this Conference have been pre-occupied with the state
of Civil Society for quite some time now. FSS dedicated one of its
earliest workshops to an examination of non-state actors, addressing
such issues as traditional systems of governance (notably, the sera
tradition so prevalent in parts of southern Ethiopia), peasant
participation in land redistribution and environmental management, CSOs,
NGOs, folklore and the private press. The papers of that work were
published in 2002 under the title of Ethiopia: The Challenge of
Democracy from Below.
Today’s Conference had its origin in a project funded by the European
Commission under its European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights
(EIDHR) program. A major component of that project has been the carrying
out of research into the external and internal environments under which
Ethiopian Civil Society has been operating. The researchers contracted
under that project have been examining the historical evolution and
current state of Civil Society in Ethiopia, the legal instruments under
which it has been operating, and the lessons to be learnt from a
comparative study of three selected African countries. These studies
constitute the core of this Conference.
The Union of Ethiopian Civil Society Associations, represented here by
its Director, Ato Aberra Haile Mariam, is an associate partner of this
project. An umbrella organization set up by a group of CSOs in 2003 to
co-ordinate their activities and to promote networking, UECSA has
already started to play a non-negligible role in bringing CSOs together
as well as training CS personnel. In the summer of 2006, it played the
leading role in organizing a consultative meeting on the nature of Civil
Society in Ethiopia and its role in the development and democratization
process. UECSA has now commissioned the study of the Code of Conduct
that is to be discussed this afternoon.
The other partner organization, the Organization for Social Justice in
Ethiopia (OSJE), represented here by its Acting Executive Director, Ato
Manyawkal Makonnen, has taken up access to justice and the provision of
free legal service as part of its mandate. It also played a leading role
in the participation of Civil Society in the monitoring and evaluation
of the 2005 Elections. In the past months, it has been engaged in the
execution of yet another EC-funded EIDHR project on maximizing the civic
engagement potential of Civil Society in Ethiopia. The result of that
research project is being presented later this morning.
This is an important Conference in many respects. It is first and
foremost an occasion for self-awareness and self-definition. It is a
forum to understand as fully as possible what Ethiopian Civil Society is
- its genesis and its trajectory, its growth from the informal to the
formal, from a score or so of formally registered organizations in the
Imperial period to over two thousand of them currently.
It is also an opportunity for self-evaluation, for an honest assessment
of our achievements and shortcomings. In addition, it is an occasion to
evaluate the state of Civil Society in Ethiopia within the general
African context, to see where we stand compared to some representative
African countries.
Secondly, it is a platform to examine the legal - and political -
environment in which Civil Society is operating in Ethiopia. As is
well-known, Civil Society still continues to operate within the legal
framework laid down by the 1960 Civil Code and the Associations
Registration of 1966. These were legal instruments primarily designed to
regulate the work of associations rather than the diverse organizations
and multi-faceted activities that traditionally come under the rubric of
Civil Society. In that respect, the Government initiative to come up
with new legislation to accommodate the changed circumstances is quite
understandable.
But, such legislation can have lasting value only if Civil Society,
which is most directly affected by it, is consulted and its inputs are
taken on board. Such consultation did indeed take place when a first
draft was prepared in 2003. Representatives of Civil Society even went
one step further and took the trouble of coming up with an alternative
draft. It is our earnest hope that these consultations will continue and
the final product will reflect these interactions, to the mutual benefit
of both State and Society.
Thirdly, the Conference is expected to discuss the issue of a Code of
Conduct for Civil Society in Ethiopia. The last paper scheduled for
today evaluates the Code of Conduct that was signed in 1999 and
indicates the way forward. The eventual adoption of such a code by the
CSO community would constitute an important step forward for Ethiopian
Civil Society. For it will lay down clear standards to which all
signatories will have to adhere. We believe that, at the end of the day,
self-regulation is the best form of regulation.
Finally, the Conference is expected to come up with recommendations
towards creating a more enabling policy environment for Civil Society in
Ethiopia. We do hope that government authorities will view these
recommendations with the seriousness and understanding that they
deserve. For, contrary to some perceptions, Civil Society does not stand
in antagonistic relationship to the State. It occupies a legitimate
place between the private and the public domain. It should be seen as an
ally, not as an enemy, of the State. It is our firm conviction that the
State has little to lose by fostering and promoting Civil Society; on
the contrary, it has a lot to gain.
Before I conclude my welcoming statement, I wish to express our
gratitude to the European Commission, which has funded the two research
projects whose results are being disseminated today, and to USAID and
PACT Ethiopia, who have given additional support to make this Conference
possible.
I wish us all fruitful deliberations!
Thank you very much for being part of this important initiative!
|
|
Address: Forum for Social Studies, P. O. Box 25864 code 1000 Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia
E-mail: 
Telephone: (251-
Home page: