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State of Civil Society in Mongolia (2004-2005) CIVICUS Civil Society Index Report for Mongolia

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State of Civil Society in Mongolia (2004-2005) CIVICUS Civil Society Index Report for Mongolia State of Civil Society in Mongolia (2004-2005) CIVICUS Civil Society Index Report for Mongolia Center for Citizens’ Alliance (former CEDAW Watch)/ ICSFD Ulaanbaatar Secretariat Follow-Up Project to the International Civil Society Forum-2003 and the Fifth International Conference of New and Restored Democracies 1 FOREWORD In December 2002, a group of pro-democracy and human rights NGOs were requested by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia to organize the International Civil Society Forum-2003 (ICSF-2003), in parallel to the Fifth International Conference of New and Restored Democracies (ICNRD-5).1 Given that the one- party dominated 2000-2004 Government began its term by cracking down on media freedom and tightening the criminal code, the independent groups were initially wary of the above request. The NGO representatives openly stated that they would undertake the task only on the condition that the Government try to control the forum agenda and process in any way. Upon receiving Ministry officials’ assurances that the NGOs would be ensured an independent space for the organization of the forum, the NGOs formed a National Core Group (NCG), elected the Center for Citizens’ Alliance (then CEDAW Watch), as the ICSF-2003 Secretariat, and set about preparing for the ICSF-2003. 2 Aside from organizing a productive and successful international forum, the NCG sought to maximize the positive impact of the ICSF-2003 preparatory and follow-up process on the Mongolian civil society development and democratic reforms. In this vein, the NCG organized a national pubic education campaign on civil society, democracy, human rights and good governance; conducted a civic journalism training for media professionals; and organized an theoretical workshop and a Civil Society Review round table discussion in order to clarify the use of the term ‘civil society’ in Mongolia, evaluate the development and current state of Mongolia’s civil society and identify key strategic directions for future action towards strengthening civil society and more effectively promoting democratic reforms in Mongolia. Significantly, the participants of the Civil Society Review round table discussion stressed the importance of developing a national democracy watch process and developing nationally owned democracy indicators for this purpose. These ideas were reflected in the outcome documents of both the Fifth ICNRD, the ICSF-2003 and the ICSF-2003 agenda, included a special session on the Civil Society Index (CSI) by CIVICUS. The Center for Citizens’ Alliance (CCA) followed up on the contact established with CIVICUS during the ICSF- 2003 and joined the group of civil society organizations (CSOs) committed to conducting the CSI assessment in their countries. Thus, in 2004, the Center for Citizens’ Alliance undertook the organization and coordination of the CSI exercise in Mongolia as a first step towards the broader, long-term goal of institutionalizing a national democracy watch process. In this sense, the CSI exercise, the results of which are presented in this report, essentially represents a pilot project of crucial importance for developing nationally-owned democracy and civil society indicators and a suitable research methodology for implementing the national democracy watch. 1 Both events took place in September, 2003, in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. 2 See Appendix XVI for the General Policies of the ICSF NCG. Civil Society Index Report for Mongolia 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Civil Society Index exercise was initiated and coordinated by the Center for Citizens’ Alliance (former CEDAW Watch) as part of the follow-up activities aimed at implementing the recommendations of the International Civil Society Forum-2003 (ICSF-2003) and the Fifth International Conference of New and Restored Democracies (ICNRD-5). This project would not have been possible without the dedicated work of the CSI Mongolia Team based at the Center for Citizens’ Alliance. I would like to use this opportunity to thank our staff members, B. Bekhbat, S. Davaasuren and L. Bayarmaa, assistant O. Bayartuya and our two advisors, Mr. J. Enkhsaikhan and Ms. T. Undarya, for their hard work. Special thanks are due to Ms. T. Undarya for developing this report. I would also like to acknowledge the contributions made by the media monitoring team members, B. Bulgamaa, B. Myagmarjav and O. Bayartuya. As any significant undertaking, the CSI project could not have been successfully undertaken without sufficient financial support. Therefore, I would like to thank our primary funders UNDP and USAID, as well as The Asia Foundation, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and CIVICUS for providing timely and much needed support for the various components of the CSI exercise. The CSI project was closely linked with the process of developing Democratic Governance Indicators (DGIs) implemented by the ICNRD-5 Follow-Up Project Team, based at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Therefore, the cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also made an important contribution towards the successful implementation of the CSI exercise by promoting a mutually-reinforcing and complementary relation between the DGI Team and the CSI Team. On behalf of the CSI Team in Mongolia, I would also like to extend our gratitude to the CIVICUS staff, particularly Mr. Navin Vasudev, Mr. Volkhart Finn Heinrich and Ms. Andria Hayes-Birchler, for the consistent technical support to the CSI Mongolia Team on the CSI methodology, process and other related issues. The CSI exercise was a broadly cooperative and consultative process wherein the National Advisory Group (NAG) played a particularly important role. Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our NAG members for their generous investment of time, intellectual power and optimistic energy to this project, especially Mr. P. Ochirbat, First President of Mongolia and Board Chair of the Ochirbat Foundation, Mr. D. Lamjav, Head of the “Tsekh” NGO, Mr. Ts. Ganbold, Chair of the Department of Political Science of the Mongolian State University, Mr. S. Tserendorj, Commissioner of the National Human Rights Commission, Ms. D. Enkhjargal, Director of the National Center against Violence, Ms. Kh. Naranjargal, Head of the “Globe International” NGO, Mr. J. Batbold, President of the Union of Mongolian Non-Governmental Organizations, Ms. R. Urtnasan, Chair of the Department of Theater Arts of the Insititute of Arts and Culture, Ms. Sh. Jargalsaihan, Executive Director of the Mongolian AOUs’ High Council, Mr. S. Nurdan, Head of the Nalaikh Civil Society Index Report for Mongolia 3 District’s Trade Union, Ms. B. Oyunbileg, Civil Society Expert, Ms. Ts. Oyuntsetseg, Executive Director of the Credit Union, Ms. E. Tuul, Civil Society Organizations’ Coordinator of the Baganuur District, Mr. N. Sodnomdorj, President of the Mongolian Federation of Trade Unions, Ms. G. Undral, Director of the Democracy Education Center, Ms. Ch. Naranzul, Program officer of the Zorig Foundation and Ms. L. Itgel, Program Officer of The Asia Foundation. Last but not least, I would like to acknowledge the invaluable contributions made by each and every participant of the regional and national consultations, especially our colleagues from rural areas who overlooked the inconvenience of local travel on bumpy roads and crowded planes to take part in the CSI discussions and represent their partners who stayed behind. Without their active participation, the CSI exercise would have been extremely limited in its scope and impact as well as less fun. J. Zanaa, Director Center for Citizens’ Alliance Civil Society Index Report for Mongolia 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword Acknowledgements Table of Contents Tables and Figures List of Acronyms Executive Summary Introduction I CIVIL SOCIETY INDEX PROJECT AND APPROACH 13 1. PROJECT BACKGROUND 13 2. PROJECT APPROACH 14 II CIVIL SOCIETY IN MONGOLIA 23 1. KEY FEATURES OF THE MONGOLIAN CONTEXT 23 2. HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF CIVIL SOCIETY 26 3. OVERVIEW OF THE CONCEPT OF CIVIL SOCIETY 29 4. CONCEPT OF CIVIL SOCIETY AS USED IN THIS STUDY 31 5. CIVIL SOCIETY MAP 35 III ANALYSIS OF CIVIL SOCIETY 39 1. STRUCTURE 39 1.1 Breadth of People’s Participation 39 1.2 Depth of People’s Participation 43 1.3 Diversity of Civil Society 44 1.4 Level of Organization 45 1.5 Inter-Relations within Civil Society 47 1.6 Civil Society Resources 49 Conclusion 50 2. ENVIRONMENT 52 2.1 Political Context 52 2.2 Basic Rights and Freedoms 57 2.3 Socio-Economic Context 60 2.4 Socio-Cultural Context 61 2.5 Legal Environment 62 2.6 State-Civil Society Relations 64 2.7 Private Sector - Civil Society Relations 67 Conclusion 69 3. VALUES 70 3.1 Democracy 70 3.2 Transparency 71 3.3 Tolerance 74 3.4 Non-Violence 75 3.5 Gender Equity 77 3.6 Poverty Eradication 79 3.7 Environmental Sustainability 80 Conclusion 80 4. IMPACT 82 4.1 Influencing Public Policy 82 4.2 Holding the State and Private Corporations Accountable 84 4.3 Responding to Social Interests 86 4.4 Empowering Citizens 87 4.5 Meeting Societal Needs 90 Conclusion 92 IV STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF MONGOLIAN CIVIL SOCIETY 93 1. STRENGTHS 93 2. WEAKNESSES 94 V RECOMMENDATIONS AND NEXT STEPS 96 1. RECOMMENDATIONS 96 2. NEXT STEPS 98 VI CONCLUSION 100 APPENDICES 104 BIBLIOGRAPHY 155 Civil Society Index Report for Mongolia 5 TABLES AND FIGURES Tables Table I.1.1: Countries that participated in the CSI implementation phase 2003-2005 13 Table II.4.1: Types of CSOs included in the study 35 Table II.5.1: Social forces in society by level of their influence 35 Table II.5.2: Main CSO types
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