Hosted by CIVICUS and Asia Democracy Network, the 2025 edition of International Civil Society Week (ICSW) will be held between 1-5 November 2025 in Bangkok. ICSW will be celebrating citizen action and reimagining democracy, rights, and inclusion for today’s world.
ECNL experts are joining ICSW to reconnect with a global community of activists, movements and civil society defending civic freedoms and showing remarkable resilience against the odds. See below the list of sessions we are co-hosting and join us for the discussions.
Peacefully defiant: Legal protections for civil disobedience
Date: 1 November 2025 | Time: 14:00- 15:15 | Venue: Thammasat
Co-hosts: ECNL, Amnesty International, Climate Defenders Australia
As any other form of peaceful protest, acts of civil disobedience are a form of democratic engagement that has been used throughout history by social movements to advance their causes. As such, they fall under the protection of the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association as well as the right to participate in public decision-making. This session will explore the protection of civil disobedience both online and offline under international and regional human rights law. We will also discuss the importance of the Guidelines on the Right to Peaceful Environmental Protest and Civil Disobedience, recently published by the UN Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders under the Aarhus Convention.
With speakers:
- Michel Forst, UN Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders under the Aarhus Convention (online participation-pre-recorded video)
- Gina Romero, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association
- Julia Grix, Climate Defenders Australia
- Marco Perolini, Amnesty International
Moderated by: Francesca Fanucci, ECNL
From crackdown to pushback: Resisting the repression of dissent
Date: 2 November 2025 | Time: 13:15-16:00 | Venue: Thammasat
Co-hosts: Amnesty International, CELS, Climate Defenders Australia, Forum Asia, Kontras, CALS/Right2Protest, ECNL, INCLO, TLHR
Governments and corporations are increasingly weaponising criminal laws to target peaceful protestors—particularly those engaging in civil disobedience. Panellists will spotlight examples from around the world, including Argentina, Australia, Europe, South Africa and Thailand. We will also discuss examples of strategies, such as public interest defences and anti-SLAPPs laws that have been successful to counter the criminalisation of dissent in specific cases.
With speakers: Marco Perolini, Patrick Wilcken, Manuel Tufró, Julia Grix, Valerio Loi, Hans Yosua, Omhle Ntshingila, Francesca Fanucci, Laura Kauer, Akarachai Chaimaneekarakate
Harnessing innovative methodologies on civic space to build a resilient civil society
Date: 4 November 2025 | Time: 12:00-13:15 | Venue: Thammasat
Co-hosts: EU SEE (HIVOS), ECNL, OMCT
The session will explore key civic space trends, as captured by various monitoring efforts, including youth mobilisation, attacks against environmental human rights defenders and transnational repression. We will also discuss foreign agent laws and the strategies CSOs have found most effective in pushing back against anti-civil society narratives, from USAID cuts under the new US administration to Hungary’s repeated adoption of laws despite European Court of Justice rulings.