Dear colleagues, / Dear subscribers,
On 29 March 2016, we will celebrate the first big anniversary of the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum, a bottom-up initiative and a network of non-governmental organisations from 18 EU countries and Russia.
Looking back at our 5-year history, I see one very important thing that has been holding us - currently 156 thematically diverse NGOs - together and letting us work for the benefit of our societies. This thing is trust, something invaluable nowadays. While political and economic relations between Russia and the European Union are put on hold, cooperation of civil societies has even intensified. People-to-people contacts should persist regardless of other circumstances - and this is the only way for us to go.
In this newsletter edition, we quote only few greetings sent to the Forum by our members and the people, who were standing at its origins, - Steering Committee members, representatives of founding organisations, faithful supporters, - but also our colleagues, who joined the Forum only some months ago.
We encourage all of you to share your impressions of the Forum with us, organise events connected to Forum topics in your countries and cities, and - should you happen to be in Berlin at that time - join us for a reception on 17 March 2016, 7pm, at Schankhalle Pfefferberg (2nd Floor, 176, Schönhauser Allee, 10119 Berlin).
Yet, while contemplating this important day for the Forum, we cannot ignore recent developments in the civil society situation in Russia. These are new restrictions posed by the "foreign agents" legislation draft amendments and worrying practices of inviting representatives of human rights NGOs for "questioning" by the security agencies. We publish the Steering Committee position about these in this issue and call for putting an end to persecution of civic activists.
Good news is the announcement of the winners of the Open Call Mechanism. Eight projects won support through OCM and will be implemented by partnerships of members, covering an impressive territory - from Krasnoyarsk to Rome, from Budapest to Yoshkar-Ola. Forum is also proud to have initiated a Call for Applications for the 2nd edition of the Forum for Young Professionals "Europe Lab" in July 2016, this time the meeting point is Croatia (Zagreb and Vukovar).
For a human being and for an organisation alike, five years can be seen as an age of reason, but more often it is seen as a beginning of a life journey. Let us celebrate this moment - with new cooperation ideas, fruitful discussions, and encouraging actions - throughout this year and contribute to building up a common civil society space from Madrid to Vladivostok, where our members come from, and beyond.
Yours Sincerely,
Anna Sevortian
Executive Director
EU-Russia Civil Society Forum