"Why does the Civil 20 (C20) important? It's because, as part of a democratic society, the government must open up spaces for participation and transparency together to roll out policies that benefit the community at large," Binny Buchori of the Civil 20 (C20) steering committee said at a press conference in Jakarta on Thursday.
According to Buchori, the involvement of civil society organizations in the process of policy-making is very important so the policies are truly inclusive and no one is left behind.
“So, it is civil society organizations that monitor policies,” Buchori said.
C20 is one of the participation forums attended by civil society organizations from across the world as well as international partners.
Thus, the C20 steering committee asked the governments to accommodate the aspirations of the world's civil society, which is divided into seven working groups.
The seven working groups include first, vaccine access and global health; second, environment, climate justice, and energy transition; third, development, sustainable development goals (SDGs), and humanity; fourth, education, digitization, and civic space; fifth, gender equality; sixth, anti-corruption; and seventh, taxation and sustainable finance.
Earlier, the chair of C20 Indonesia, Sugeng Bahagijo, said that C20 Indonesia is a meeting place for global civil society organizations to balance the policy-making process in the G20.
Indonesia's G20 presidency determines the fate of people around the world, including the poor from low- and middle-income countries, he added.
C20 urges G20 leaders to pay heed to and take action on the issues that directly impact people's daily lives on their agenda.
The pandemic has pushed at least 20 million people into extreme poverty. This is on top of 82.4 million people who have been forcibly displaced and 161 million people who have faced acute food shortages.
“We need to question whether G20 has heard the voice of the people to address the multidimensional crisis worldwide," he said.
Reporter: Azis Kurmala
Editor: Bayu Prasetyo
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