Representative of A 11 Initiative Nađa Marković, participated in the Global Strategic Meeting (GSM) of the Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights Network ESCR-Net, which took place in Chiang Mai, Thailand, from September 16th to 20th.
This international network brings together various organizations working on economic and social rights worldwide and has several hundred members. Through its working groups, the Network conducts various activities, while in-person meetings are organized every five years.
The meeting in Chiang Mai, held in September this year, was the first meeting in a decade, as the COVID-19 pandemic had prevented the previous one. Over 130 representatives from different organizations, as well as donors and other allies of the Network, gathered for this conference.
The five-day agenda focused on the strategic planning of the Network’s activities for the next five years, through jointly establishing principles to serve as guidelines for action. These guidelines were developed in smaller groups dedicated to topics such as care, debt, climate, and “corporate capture,” after which the results of each group were shared with the other participants during plenary sessions.
Additionally, the conference addressed feminist movements, environmental issues, access to justice, and specific problems in certain regions, such as the rights of indigenous communities and attacks on activists fighting against companies that exploit minerals in rural areas. On the last day of the conference, participants were divided into several groups to draft plans for the Network’s activities over the next two years. The representative of Initiative A 11 participated in a group focused on strategic litigation and potential activities for the Network in that direction—from providing support for legal actions by local organizations to direct strategic advocacy.
Since the members of ESCR-Net supported our initiative to assess the constitutionality of the Law on the Social Card through an amicus curiae brief, or a joint legal opinion, in November 2022, and discussions in working groups included individual cases supported by the Network, one of the topics was the newly introduced Social card system in Serbia and how to address this issue moving forward.
The conference brought together participants from various countries and continents, including South America, Africa, and Asia, with a significant focus on solidarity between countries and organizations, considering the fight against similar challenges worldwide.
This global perspective allowed participants to connect and network for potential collaborations, as well as to support each other’s initiatives and petitions related to specific community issues.