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Civil Society Index 2006 2. ENVIRONMENT
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To what extent is the external environment disabling / enabling the development of civil society? 2.1. Political context 2.2. Basic freedoms & rights 2.3. Socio-economic context 2.4. Socio-cultural context 2.5. Legal environment 2.6. State-civil society relations 2.7. Private sector-civil society relations Score: 1.5 (Not disabling, nor enabling)
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2.1. Political context Score: 1.7 (Somewhat enabling) Political rights: Lack of full democracy; yet restrictions on people’s political rights are limited. Political competition: Having three major parties; resources and the level of institutionalization of political parties are in no way comparable with the Western counterparts. Rule of law: Society is governed by fair and predictable rules, which are generally abided by. Corruption: A moderate level of corruption. State effectiveness: Government bureaucracy is functional but some aspects of which are perceived to be insufficient. Decentralisation: The decision making power have always been rather centralized.
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2.2. Basic freedoms & rights Score: 1.3 (Somewhat disabling) Civil liberties: The protection of HK people’s basic rights and freedoms is guaranteed by the Basic Law. Information rights: Citizens are allowed to get access to government documents, but the scope of which is limited. Press freedom: Article 27 of the Basic Law: provide for the freedom of speech, and of the press and publication. Yet there are some violations of violations of press freedom (e.g. self-censoring).
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2.3. Socio-economic context Score: 2.0 (Somewhat enabling) Poverty: HK is by no means a poor society Civil war: None in the last five years. Recent severe ethnic/religious conflict: None in the last five years. Severe economic crisis: No debt problem. Severe social crisis: SARS at spring of 2003. Severe socio-economic inequities: Increase in the gap between the rich and the poor. Pervasive adult illiteracy: Adult illiteracy rate aged 15 and above < 10%. Lack of IT infrastructure: High prevalence on the use of IT.
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2.4. Socio-cultural context Score: 1.0 (Somewhat disabling) Trust: A low level of general trust. Tolerance: A low level of tolerance in the society. Public spiritedness: A low level of public spiritedness in the society.
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2.5. Legal environment Score: 1.8 (Somewhat enabling) CSO registration: The CSO registration process can be judged as relatively supportive. Allowable advocacy activities: Constraints on CSO’s advocacy activities are minimal. Tax laws favourable to CSOs: The Inland Revenue Ordinance contains provision of tax exemption for ‘non- profit-making’ or ‘voluntary’ org. Tax benefits for philanthropy: Tax advantages for tax- exempt charity; Tax exemptions cover profits tax; stamp duty; estate duty; and business registration tax.
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2.6. State-civil society relations Score: 1.7 (Somewhat enabling) Autonomy: Government interference is quite minimal on CSO registration and application to organize activities in public places. Dialogue: There are limited dialogues between government and individual CSOs (e.g. advisory committees and consultative bodies). Cooperation / support: Allocation of government resources for CSOs is usually done on a programme basis. Mainly falls in education and social welfare.
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2.7. Private sector-civil society relations Score: 1.0 (Somewhat disabling) Private sector attitude: Business in general had a positive but indifferent view to CSOs. Corporate social responsibility: The concept of corporate social responsibility was rather underdeveloped. Corporate philanthropy: There are some involvements of business sectors into philanthropy, yet only a limited range of CSOs receives funding of this kind.
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