Civil Society Gathers For Global Conference in Fiji to talk Climate Justice, Human Rights

More than 600 civil society leaders, activists and other stakeholders from across the globe - from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe - are gathering in Fiji for a global weeklong conference to discuss and seek solutions to some of the greatest challenges we face in areas of climate change/climate justice, human rights and development.

International Civil Society Week (ICSW) - the largest gathering of its kind - runs from December 4-8 in Suva, Fiji and is hosted by civil society alliance, CIVICUS and the Pacific Islands Association of NGOs (PIANGO) under the theme, "Our Planet. Our Struggles. Our Future".

This is the first time in more than 20 years of convening that this event will be held in the Pacific region. Coming in the wake of the COP23 Climate Change meeting in Bonn, Germany, which was co-hosted by Fiji, it is significant that this key global civil society event is taking place in an region that has been among the most vulnerable to climate change and at the forefront of struggles to address the impact of climate change.

The conference comes at a time of unprecedented restrictions globally on fundamental freedoms and civic space. According to the CIVICUS Monitor, only 3% of the world's population currently live in countries where rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly are respected, enabled and protected. We are seeing an unprecedented global trend of attacks by governments on human rights NGOs. Environmental defenders are being murdered in record numbers.