Roundtable on 'Citizens Disempowered by Constraints on Civil Society'

The Victoria Forum (VF) will be hosting the Commonwealth Indigenous Sport Declaration Working Group on the power of Sport for truth and reconciliation with Indigenous peoples during the Victoria Forum 2022, which will be held in Victoria, BC, from August 28th to 30th, 2022.

The Commonwealth Sports Movement agreed via the approval of the Transformation 2022 Refresh at its General Assembly in Kigali, Rwanda, in September 2019, to “develop and publish global declaration(s) addressing the power of sport as a positive contributor to addressing historical and current issues of truth and reconciliation.” It builds on partnerships with community leaders in Australia and Canada and the work successfully delivered at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games. 

Dr. Rajesh Tandon was one of the discussants in the roundtable on Citizens Disempowered by Constraints on Civil Society. 

In many countries, States have used the opportunity of the pandemic to crack down on and constrain the freedom of speech of citizens who wish to have their voices and views heard in an open society. Issues: The pandemic has accentuated social inequality and seen the lives of the most vulnerable social groups deteriorate substantially. While the initial public sentiment was that we ‘are all in it together', the gap between the poor and the rich has widened domestically and globally. This roundtable explored pathways toward establishing a new social contract and a new culture of public dialogue. It identified opportunities based on participants’ experience to re-establish trust by building on the experience of the pandemic: securing fundamental, universal services and social rights for all citizens, building resilient – locally based – communities that can overcome social divides and rethinking modes of democratic dialogue and engagement.

To read more, click here!!