General theme: search for durable solutions to overcome the current refugee crisis.
Date: September 15-18, 2021
Venue: Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Overview
About Us
The “Council for Justice, Equality and Peace” (Cojep international) created in 1999 has its head office in Strasbourg (France). Our NGO has consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations, UNESCO (NGO Liaison Committee), the Council of Europe (Conference of NGOs) and the OECD, and is accredited to the European Parliament and to the OSCE and FRA.
We are also present with our agencies and coordinators in Asia, Africa, the Balkans, Eurasia, the Middle East and the United States. Faced with the needs of citizens, Cojep has evolved over all its years in areas such as migration, migrant status, citizenship, democratic participation, education, living together. The fight against racism and discrimination are the priorities of the Cojep movement within national and international institutions.
We have gained experience and respect over time. Today, Cojep works for universal values. We have demonstrated the importance of our role (that of civil society) in development, the strengthening of peace, justice, rights, freedoms and democracy. Our association has proven itself in these fields by becoming an accredited and respected organization by the international community.
Manifesto
To contribute to the democratic progress and sustainable development of developing countries. To increase their democratic and economic integration with the world. To strengthen the democratic image of developing countries and to open the way for economic investments. To be a bridge for establishing strong contacts with international organizations. Providing experience and training support to non-governmental organizations of developing countries.
2021 Agenda
GLOBAL CIVIL SOLIDARITY FORUM
Message From Chairman – Ali Gedikoğlu.
« We advocate the mobilization of civil society for democracy, sustainable development, and economic prosperity in Africa, Asia, and Eurasia, through Global Civil Solidarity Forums »
Civil society occupies an important place in the dialogue on development because it offers opportunities to bring communities together for collective action, mobilizing society to express its demands and express its concerns at the local, national, regional and international levels. Usually, the government of a country takes care of the basics, such as defense, education and health care. But it does not provide citizens with a way to organize themselves to do what is important to them or to express their opinions.
This is where civil society comes in. These are the groups that people form to advocate for the things they believe in and to solve problems in their communities. Societies that do not allow co-citizens to connect with each other to solve problems are less efficient and less democratic than those that do. Likewise, it is not enough to simply create or strengthen civil society organizations. We need to make sure they have an environment in which they can prosper.
The First African Global Civil Solidarity Forum organized by the COJEP – The Council for Justice, Equality and Peace is a call for international civil society and global solidarity. This call is a manifestation of living together without discrimination for people and nations.
The First African Global Civil Solidarity Forum will be attended official state representatives, scientists, politicians, diplomats, INGOs, media and national artists.
We believe that the First African Global Civil Solidarity Forum, which will promote the ideas of Justice, Equality, Democracy for Economic Prosperity and Peace in the world, will prove that racial, religious and national discrimination among people is unacceptable, will create opportunities for partnership and progress between people and nations.
It is also a unique opportunity to present the cultural diversity of Africa!
Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
PRELIMINARY PROGRAM
Date: September 15-18, 2021
Capacity: 150
Topics: the search for durable solutions to overcome the current refugee crisis.
September, 15
PRESS Meeting and WELCOME DINNER
Note: Forum participants meeting and accommodation + Installation of stands by the participants NGOs for the fair / NGOs Exhibition.
September, 16
OPENING THE FIRST AFRICAN GLOBAL CIVIL SOLIDARITY FORUM
10: 00 – 11: 00
Registration
11:00 – 13:00
Opening of the First African Global Civil Solidarity Forum
11:00 – 11:30
Speeches from Cojep International
Speeches and greetings of official state representatives.
11:30 – 12:15
COJEP INTERNATIONAL GENERAL OPENING CONFERENCE:
For a fairer world: the importance of civil initiatives and the the civil solidarity forum.
Civil society, an essential ingredient of development: Sustainable growth and an international development framework – addressing poverty and inequality, building policies and programs with a human rights-based approach – cannot be achieved without people’s engagement. In our experience, development needs active and engaged individuals and communities.
Facilitating active citizenship and participation is a crucial step towards the creation of a functional democratic system, which is an essential ingredient to a sustainable development. Civil society can help in this regard, by enabling a broad and democratic debate, and by supporting people’s ability and right to choose and influence their development.
12:15 – 13:00
PRESENTATION OF THE CULTURE OF AFRICA
Official Opening and visit of the Exhibition
EXHIBITION/STANDs of INGOs:
(25 May, 10:00 – 26 May, 18:00)
An exhibition of INGOs from African countries will be organized about their actions.
AN ARTISTIC PART WILL BE HOSTED AT THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE EXHIBITION.
The artistic part will consist of national music and folk songs from African countries.
13:00 – 14:00
LUNCH BREAK
14:00 – 18:00
AFRICAN PEOPLES’ SOLIDARITY CONFERENCE PANELS:
PANEL I
The role of African civil solidarity on the prevention of the migration crisis and on the sustainable development models.
How do the United Nations, international organizations, governments, corporate actors and a wide variety of civil society organizations and regional and global trade unions perceive the root causes of migration, global inequality and options for sustainable development?
This is one of the most pertinent political questions of the 21st century. We will examine the development of an emerging global governance on migration with the focus on roles, strategies and alliance-making of a composite transnational civil society engaged in issues of rights and the protection of migrants and their families.
PANEL II
For the fairer world: new models for eliminating racism and discrimination due to the migrations.
The Durban Declaration (adopted by consensus at the 2001 World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) in Durban (South Africa), the DDPA is a comprehensive and action-oriented document that proposes concrete measures to combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. It is holistic in its vision, addresses a wide range of issues and contains far-reaching recommendations and practical measures. The document emphasizes that xenophobia is one of the main sources of contemporary racism. Migrants are often victims of discrimination in housing, education, health, work or social security.
It is a global issue affecting the countries of origin, the countries of transit and the countries of arrival.
According to the Population Division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, around 200 million people live outside their country of origin, which will amount to 3.1% of the world population in 2010. Estimates showed that between 1945 and 1990, the number of migrants increased by around 45 million people per year. Migrants arriving irregularly in a new country and victims of trafficking stopped by the police are often detained in administrative centers or in prisons.
According to estimates released by the Population Division, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the number of international migrants worldwide reached 272 million in 2019, an increase of 51 million from 2010.
In 2019, at the regional level, Europe welcomed the largest number of international migrants (82 million), followed by North America (59 million), North Africa and Western Asia (49 million).
However, with the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the United Nations, the increase of international migrants has slowed by 27%. This disease has disrupted all forms of human mobility by closing national borders and stopping travel around the world. Currently, international migrants represent around 3.6% of the world’s population.
Although the deprivation of liberty should be a last resort under international human rights law, migrants are often detained as a routine procedure and without proper judicial safeguards. Overcrowded immigration detention centers often have poor access to healthcare, inadequate food, sanitation or safe drinking water and a lack of separate sanitation facilities for men and women. Equally, there is an increasing tendency to criminalize migration offenses, which has, in some cases, resulted in violations of migrants’ rights. Today, one of the key obstacles hindering migrants’ integration and equal access to human rights in host societies is persistent anti-migrant sentiments and discriminatory practices.
16:00 – 16:15
COFFEE/TEA BREAK
PANEL III
Regional wars, migrants, refugees, IDPs : the role of international organizations and humanitarian law on the sustainable development of African regions.
Sub-Saharan Africa has been growing strongly over the past decade, and has some success in increasing human development levels, but its poverty rates have remained stubbornly high. With its limited economic diversification, persisting inequalities, high unemployment, and environmental degradation, the continent has yet to embark on a sustainable development path which can benefit all women and men over time.
In September 2015, the member states of the United Nations adopted the sustainable development program, entitled Agenda 2030. This agenda embodies a vision of transforming our world by eradicating poverty and ensuring its transition to sustainable development. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals must be achieved not only by industrialized countries but by developing countries as well.
As a member of the United Nations ECOSOC system, Cojep international wishes to become a vector of interaction between the United Nations and Africa.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is based on a commitment to ‘leave no-one behind’. Meeting these ambitions will require visionary policies for inclusive development. If everyone is to benefit from economic gains, policymakers will need to reformulate their strategies and programs to ensure that those most in need benefit fairly from current and future economic and social development.
Between 1990 and 2014, GDP per capita in the region more than doubled. This momentum has been sustained by harnessing the opportunities of globalization while also investing in human and physical capital. Rapid economic growth in turn created job opportunities and helped lift millions of people out of poverty. Nevertheless, in 2013 around 400 million people were still living in extreme poverty, with many more in vulnerable situations.
Sustainable growth and an international development framework – addressing poverty and inequality, building policies and programs with a human rights based approach – cannot be achieved without people’s engagement. Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) are a key link in the accountability chain.
PANEL IV
New social models created by migrations and the future of multiculturalism;
Ideas about the legal and political accommodation of ethnic diversity — commonly termed “multiculturalism” — emerged in the West as a vehicle for replacing older forms of ethnic and racial hierarchy with new relations of democratic citizenship. Despite substantial evidence that these policies are making progress toward that goal, a chorus of political leaders has declared them a failure and heralded the death of multiculturalism.
This popular master narrative is problematic because it mischaracterizes the nature of the experiments in multiculturalism that have been undertaken, exaggerates the extent to which they have been abandoned, and misidentifies not only the genuine difficulties and limitations they have encountered but the options for addressing these problems.
Final Speech/ Conclusion and the Family Photo.
20:00
Gala Dinner
Civil Solidarity Awards Ceremony
COJEP INTERNATIONAL gives every year COJEP AWARDS For More Democracy, More freedom, More Equality in different areas to Politicians, Academics, Journalists, Writers, Athletes, Artists, and Organizations, which work for World Peace and Human Rights.
The COJEP Awards Ceremony is a major annual event. Our aim is to reward important personalities in the struggle for justice and freedom. Since 2007, personalities from the political, artistic, sport, intellectual world or from civil society have received this prize. In 2009, the Special Prize was awarded to Ms. Micheline Calmy-Rey, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland. But also, Joseph Daul, Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, Minister Philippe Richert, PACE Former President Mevlüt Cavusoglu, MEP Emine Bozkurt, Kamel Meziti, Abdal Malik, Lilian Thuram, Cyril Ritchie, Jean-Marie Heydt, Mevlut Erdinç, Mireille Fanon Mendès France, Doudou Diène, Gabriella Battaini (Deputy to the General Secretary of the Council of Europe), Ambassador Ömür Orhun, Bashy Quraishy, Mouloud Aounit or Rokhaya Diallo were among the winners for their courage and exemplary nature.
Thus, during the Forum of Civil Solidarity in Africa Cojep has the ambition to award this year the “Civil Solidarity Prizes” to important and emblematic personalities in order to encourage civil initiative for peace, justice and development.
September,17
09:00 – 13:00
THE NGO FAIR DAY: Participating INGOs or organizations will be near their stands to present their actions. An environment for interaction and opportunities will be available during the fair.
13:00 – 14:00
LUNCH BREAK
15:00 – 19:00
EXCURSION:
Kinshasa tour
City tour of historical and sightseeing areas around Kinshasa.
September,18
Forum closing
FAREWELL
Contact
COJEP INTERNATIONAL
cojep.relations.int@gmail.com
18 Rue du Chemin de Fer, 67200 Strasbourg / FRANCE
www.cojep.com
Strategic Partners
