CSOs Discuss Relationship with Political Parties

“CSO and Political Parties” was the topic of the meeting arranged on September 27, 2003 by the Caucasian Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development (CIPDD) aiming to demonstrate the existing practices and future perspectives of the relationship between the CSOs and political parties.

This was the fourth discussion in the cycle of meetings arranged within the framework of Citizens Advocate! Program (CAP). Previous meetings discussed the necessity of the CSOs’ code of ethics, (“Civil Activists Discuss the Elaboration of the Code of Ethics” ), The public image of third sector ( “CSOs Discuss Their Public Image” ) and the information strategy to increase citizens’ awareness about the CSO activity (“Third Sector Wants to Improve Information Outreach”).

The recent meeting addressed the question of CSO-political party relationship, whether there should be any and how can this relationship be understood by other representatives of the sector? 

David Losaberidze, of CIPDD, opened the discussion, noting that as a fact there already are certain practices of CSOs relationship with the political parties. “Is this a problem for the sector and what will be the outcome?”- was the starting point of the discussion, followed by the presentation of four guest speakers.

Zviad Devdariani of United Nations Association of Georgia, (UNA-Georgia) spoke about the situation few years ago when the CSOs preferred to be neutral generally. Although certain active non-governmental entities had negotiations with the political parties, seeking their support in introducing some draft laws in the Parliament of Georgia.

Dato Paichadze of Radio Liberty spoke about the positive events in CSO-Political party cooperation, when the parliament of Georgia adopted the law “on Grants and humanitarian assistance”; “third chapter of General administrative code of Georgia and etc. However “after the disappointment in the government the CSOs started to look for the ties with the newly created parties”-he said in his presentation.  

He also pointed to the fact that political parties do not perceive the third sector as the single, united power and frequently have inadequate perceptions about the sector (for example labeling the CSOs as “western-funded sects”).
 
Sozar Subari, of Liberty Institute, pointed to the “false umbrella of CSOs neutrality”. “Everybody [the CSOs] had and has certain political position, however nobody can declare it publicly, as there is a threat of being labeled as the supporter of certain political force” – he noted.

The discussion, following the presentations revealed the position of the participants that CSOs can have certain political orientation and financial assistance from the political parties; however their positions and preferences should be declared freely and openly.

Nevertheless, the CSO representatives noted that certain type of CSOs, like human rights and advocacy CSOs should be neutral to maintain the trust and support from the society.