Civil 7, an official Engagement Group of the G7 that represents positions from the international civil society, published its Communiqué for 2023 on 12 April 2023 and handed it to Japan's Prime Minister and G7 Chair Fumio Kishida.
Over 700 civil society representatives from 72 countries were participating in working groups that composed the document and drafted recommendations. In the introduction, C7 notes that “civil society acting in public interest is one of the key stakeholders without which we will not be able to address global challenges effectively and sustainably, therefore the C7 calls on the G7 to utilise their global influence and voice in protecting human rights, democratic governance and civic space, maintaining open societies, and defending freedom of speech both at home and internationally. .”
The C7 consists of multiple working groups. ECNL is part of the working group Open and Resilient Societies, which recommends the following in the Communiqué:
- Create a Task Force to facilitate global dialogue between G7 governments with CSOs, businesses, philanthropies and banks to identify priorities for civic space support and uninterrupted funding for civil society under threat.
- Protect civil society space in all multilateral forums and commit to facilitating the participation of CSOs to ensure full, equal, meaningful and effective participation of civil society and community organisations, including provision of funding, by allowing non-state civil society observers access to meetings and to textual negotiations.
- Limit the use of violence and harassment against peaceful protests and assemblies and fully respect the right to peaceful protest online and offline.
- End the criminalisation and stigmatisation of human rights and environmental defenders. Adopt a G7 Action Plan that promotes the right to defend human rights and the environment and creates a safe and enabling environment for protection and participation of human rights and environmental defenders.
- Develop evidence-informed risk and human rights impact assessment frameworks to be used before the development, deployment, and use of artificial intelligence, including for national security purposes, and consider the impact of all new technology on human rights, civic freedoms, and democracy.
Read the full Communiqué here.