2016 EU–China Twinning: Partnerships between European and Chinese NGOs Social and Environmental Justice and Climate Change

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Abstract

If one were to look for the 2016 civil society word of the year, it would have to be “shrinking spaces”. So often has this term been used in connection to the global threat to civic freedoms, the marginalization of politically “unsavory” fields of work, the growing lists of legal and regulatory restrictions and the strategy of putting civil society activists on par with foreign puppets, criminals and even terrorists, that many members of civil society organizations have tired of it already. The reality of more and more governments interfering with civic spaces, however, is a dangerous global trend. In China, the 2016 Charity Law went into effect and the National People’s Congress passed new legislation on the regulation of international NGOs. Both have already had a great impact on Chinese and European civil society organizations in China and Europe and at the same time a marginalization of certain topics. We can witness a move towards social enterprises rather than pure NPOs, the regulation is going hand in hand with rising distrust towards civil society organizations.