CIVICUS participated in the consultative meeting preparing for the tenth anniversary of the International Year of Volunteers (IYV+10). The meeting was held at the United Nations Volunteers’ headquarters in Bonn, Germany on 22 and 23 October. A group of over 40 participants from different organizations met and drew up an action plan for the lead-up to the campaign year in 2011.

CIVICUS was involved in the drafting of the communications and promotions plan. Civil society is a target audience for the campaign, and CIVICUS will work with its members and partners to encourage volunteerism and support for this campaign. To start with, the first issue of e-CIVICUS (CIVICUS’s weekly e-newsletter) in December will be dedicated to celebrating International Volunteer Day, which falls on 5 December.

CIVICUS is also now taking the lead in the Every Human Has Rights (EHHR) campaign, to coincide with Human Rights Day on 10 December. The campaign, inspired by The Elders (Nelson Mandela’s independent group of eminent world leaders, which aims to build peace and ease suffering), was launched in December 2007 to mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Graça Machel is pictured speaking at the launch). The campaign needs support from current partners as well as fresh support from new partners as it enters an ambitious phase in 2010 and beyond, and CIVICUS will be reinvigorating the website and exploring other effective methods to spread the human rights message to every corner of the world.

For more information
About CIVICUS: http://www.civicus.org or contact Secretary General Ingrid Srinath at Ingrid.srinath@civicus.org
About the EHHR campaign:  http://www.everyhumanhasrights.org
To contribute your ideas, resources and solidarity, email ehhr@civicus.org