In November, Enrique de Obarrio, Pillar’s Chair, traveled to Europe to visit the Permanent Secretariat offices, met with Jacek Kucharczyk, Pillar’s vice chair, connect with relevant stakeholders from the Community of Democracies Governing Council, have a joint meeting with Civil society representatives from Mali, and attend in Geneva in an event part of the UN Forum on HHRR.

On November 21st, Enrique visited the headquarters of the Community of Democracies in Warsaw, and had the opportunity to met with Thomas Garrett, CoD’s Permanent Secretariat, and his team, with the Vice Chair, and Warsaw-based representatives of CoD Member States to discuss the vital role of civil society in strengthening democracy. 

Besides, Enrique and Thomas had the opportunity to speak virtually with representatives of civil society organizations in Mali, to discuss the political situation in the country and its effects on democracy, human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Taking advantage of the visit, Enrique participated in the side event “Civil Society: Key to building stronger democracies post-pandemic”, that was held in the margins of the Fourth Session of the UN Forum on Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law on 24 November 2022 at the UN Palais des Nations, Geneva. The event discussed the key role played by civil society in building more robust post-pandemic democracies, and aimed to share good practices from civil society representatives. Please read Enrique’s intervention in this link.

On December the 6th the first Executive Committee led by Canada was held in Warsaw. The discussion revolved around the most pressing issues to address in 2023: i) change of the general secretary as Thomas Garrett completes his term of appointment, ii) construction of a new strategic plan for the period 2023-27, iii) end of the first cycle of the renewal process of the member governments of the Governing Council, review of bylaws and establishment of new processes. 

As Civil society Pillar, we will be accompanying these processes, providing pertinent information, and bringing the views of civil society to the decision-making process.

 We invite you to revisit our previous links to see the Chair’s and secretariat action in October and November.