A report sanctioned by the West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI) has urged the management of the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) to urgently develop mechanisms for managing democratic erosion within the area earlier than it turns into a full-blown disaster.
The report titled Environmental Assessment of Civic Space in West Africa was launched on Wednesday in Abuja on the 2024 Civil Society Week by WACSI’s Executive Director, Nana Asantewa Afadzinu alongside leaders of different civil society teams in Africa.
The report attributed the democratic erosion within the area to the disaster of the civic house in West Africa, insisting that the event have to be addressed by ECOWAS by concerted work with the African Union (AU), states and all actors.
According to the report: “ECOWAS, in particular, needs to develop mechanisms for managing democratic erosion before it becomes a full-blown crisis.”
It additional referred to as for the strengthening and enlargement of the ECOWAS courtroom to permit it to tackle extra circumstances and to function a regional arbiter of CSO-Government disputes, noting that the transfer will enhance oversight in relation to disenabling laws or actions of governments.
The report referred to as for a regional commonplace for press freedom and digital rights, including {that a} mechanism for monitoring similar have to be put in place in West Africa to clarify, what ranges of freedom is predicted and supply CSO actors with an additional software with which to carry authorities to account.
Regretting how nationwide governments within the area leverage on dependence on exterior improvement companions for funding to delegitimize civic organisations, the report urged them to allocate substantial funds to be managed independently by civic actors.
“Safeguards, such as making the funds statutory rather than arbitrary budgetary allocations, should be put in place to ensure this does not become a tool of control. This will increase local funds available to civil society and help gradually wean CSOs from over dependence on external funding.” It added.
It additionally referred to as on governments within the area to work with native civil society to discover a stability between the professional want to control CSOs and the necessity to recognise that laws ought to purpose at facilitating quite than constricting the civic house.
The report additional referred to as on governments to make concerted efforts to have interaction with civil society with the aim of clarifying nationwide safety laws and growing mutually agreeable eventualities wherein civic actions is likely to be construed as in breach of such legislations.
According to the report, the transfer can result in the creation of native government-CSO compacts outlining commitments and obligations in relation to nationwide safety legal guidelines.
Earlier, the report analysis lead and editorial workforce, Dr. Akin Iwilade defined that, as legislative instruments dramatically constrict the civic house, press and media freedoms are additionally concurrently beneath assault, including that, in West Africa, vital declines in press and media freedoms have been recorded over 2023 in locations like Senegal, Sierra Leone and Cote d’lvoire.
“In Nigeria and Niger, there were arbitrary arrests of journalists, while in Mali, a blanket ban was instituted on any reporting of the activities of political parties. In other places such as Burkina Faso, new powers were granted to media regulators to seize broadcast equipment and shut down radio stations,” Iwilade mentioned.
“The growth of online media and citizen journalism is helping to mitigate this clampdown on press freedoms, yet even that is being targeted by the state. The contributions of online media platforms is also complicated by the rise of misinformation and disinformation.”
