Celebrating citizen action: reimagining democracy, rights, and inclusion for today’s world
The 2025 edition’s key theme will be Celebrating citizen action: reimagining democracy, rights, and inclusion for today’s world.
ICSW pays tribute to activists, movements, and civil society achieving significant progress, defending civic freedoms, and showing remarkable resilience despite the many challenges.
The event comes at a time when civic freedoms are being curtailed in most countries, with civil society under severe attack in 116 of 198 countries and territories. The world faces significant deterrents to freedoms of expression, association, and assembly.
Given the changing and challenging context, we must reimagine how we champion democracy, human rights, and inclusion. We must mobilize new frontiers to be inclusive and to reach beyond the traditional confines of civil society by widely engaging grassroots communities, corporations, educators, and a broader range of citizens of the world.
Let’s dream bigger – be more imaginative, adaptable, and resilient to build a better world for everyone. Together, we must work for a democracy that works for the people – accessible, inclusive, and relevant to all.
