When the Carlos Gomes Theater in Rio de Janeiro closed its curtain on July 5, representatives of the BRICS Civil Society Council were not only holding an 80-page policy recommendation document, but also the institutionalized achievements of the global South's civil forces after a decade of effort.

From the official recognition of this mechanism in the 2024 BRICS Leaders' Kazan Declaration to the first offline meeting held by Brazil during its chairmanship in 2025, the voices of BRICS civil society have moved from marginal dialogue to core agenda, with the Brazilian Landless Workers' Movement (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra, MST) always being the central driver of this transformation.

Observatory Network

Kazan laid the foundation, Rio broke through: From forum to council, the mechanism transition

July 4-5, the first offline meeting of the BRICS Civil Society Council was also a continuation of the series of civil forums since 2015.

The BRICS Civil Society Council was established after the 2024 Civil Forum held in Russia and was recognized by the BRICS Leaders in the Kazan Declaration.

After ten years of development, this mechanism has been formally incorporated into the BRICS "People-to-People (P2P)" pillar system, aiming to institutionalize the participation of civil society in national strategic agendas. Before the offline meeting, over 120 civil organizations from member states had conducted multiple rounds of online consultations. After two days of discussion, the meeting finally adopted the Policy Recommendation Document focusing on seven areas: public health, education, ecological protection, cultural exchange, financial cooperation, digital sovereignty, and BRICS mechanism building.

Behind the steady progress of a series of agendas is the continuous push by Southern countries' civil organizations such as the Brazilian Landless Workers' Movement.

In Brazil, the Civil Society Council held a series of online meetings, discussing matters together with grassroots movement organizations, trade unions, non-governmental organizations, researchers, and academic groups from rural and urban areas.

The Secretary General of the Civil Society Council and activist of the Center for People's Solidarity and Struggle for Peace (Cebrapaz), Rita Coitinho, explained, "We organized online meetings from March to June. Each group selected coordinators and reporters who systematized the documents and recommendations. Then we translated all the content into English and exchanged it with other countries' civil committees on the international stage. The principle was consensus: if consensus could not be reached, the recommendations would be withdrawn."

"We must explain to the leaders that real cooperation must be achieved through civil organizations. Governments focus on macro politics and major issues, but specific channels such as technical cooperation and cultural exchanges can only be built by the people," said Joao Pedro, a member of the National Coordination Committee of the Brazilian Landless Workers' Movement and a member of the BRICS Civil Society Council.

The breakthrough progress of the BRICS Civil Society Council mechanism means that a regular dialogue channel between governments and civil organizations of member states and partner countries has been established within the BRICS cooperation framework.

This April, civil society representatives achieved a breakthrough result - they sat together with political negotiation representatives of member states for the first time, deeply participating in the formulation of the formal BRICS agenda.

Secretary of the Presidential Office of Brazil, Marcelo Mendonça, reiterated at the opening ceremony, "A single tree cannot form a forest. Only the people know the real needs. We have proven through the G20 Social Summit that the dialogue mechanism between the Civil Society Council and the BRICS Summit has been effective."

This mechanism was called "an important achievement of our era, the true fruit of collective struggle" by him. Victoria Panova, a Russian representative, pointed out, "Civil participation is the basis of all discussions. Although this mechanism was institutionalized during Russia's term, it is the crystallization of the common wishes and efforts of all countries' societies."

Just after Joao Pedro spoke, Brazilian President Lula shouted: Long live the Civil Council!

Photo with President Lula and BRICS Civil Society Council members, Observer Network

The Western governance faces an unprecedented crisis, and the BRICS civil forces contribute wisdom

"We believe that the world is facing a serious Western governance crisis, which requires us to work together to create new international cooperation mechanisms to save human civilization," said Joao Pedro Steidle, representing the Civil Society Council members speaking before President Lula and other leaders during the BRICS Summit.

On July 6, the Civil Society Council submitted the Policy Recommendation Document covering seven areas to the leaders of the member states. That day, the Civil Society Council participated for the first time in a special meeting with the European Union Business Commission and the Women Entrepreneurs' Alliance to listen to the opinions of civil society. Marco Fernandes, researcher at the Three Continents Institute and member of the BRICS Civil Society Council, said this was an unprecedented moment.

He introduced that in addition to the special proposals, the Civil Society Council also put forward two structural requirements to the summit: official recognition and resource security. "We hope to ensure that governments have an official and permanent platform to specifically listen to the opinions of the Civil Society Council. In addition, we need to ensure funding. This meeting was held due to a spirit of initiative, and we and our partners raised the funds ourselves. The BRICS Civil Society Council must have sufficient funds to guarantee that at least one meeting is held annually."

Marco Fernandes particularly emphasized the risks involved: "The hosting of this meeting was entirely funded by Brazil. Next year, when India hosts the summit, no one can guarantee that this institution will continue to exist."

When explaining the positions of the Civil Society Council, Joao Pedro Steidle said, "We advocate taxing the millionaires, whose numbers are decreasing but who control more and more wealth. We must control the speculative capital hidden in tax havens, thus providing institutional resources to combat poverty, hunger, and social inequality, which are issues that we all strive to solve. We also advocate that the BRICS Bank (Respected President Dilma) should establish mechanisms to approve social projects submitted by civil organizations to the bank. We are also the spokespersons of the BRICS Journalists Forum, which recently held a meeting in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, proposing that the governments of BRICS countries should create an open big technology platform for all people of the Global South to use, so as to get rid of the manipulation and control of large technology companies in ideological and domestic political struggles against our countries."

"We support President Lula's publicly proposed position, which supports the admission of new countries into the BRICS. Finally, we want to record our voices, calling on the world to unite urgently to save the Palestinian people from genocide, while we condemn all wars, especially the aggression against the Iranian people," said Joao Pedro Steidle.

According to the plan, the Civil Society Council will hold the second round of offline meetings in Salvador, Brazil, during its chairmanship in October, aiming to deepen the discussion in combination with the results of the leaders' summit. Brazilian civil organizations are preparing an expanded meeting lasting three days, expecting to gather 250-300 representatives, including 10-15 representatives from each member state and observers from other interested countries, focusing on strengthening the linkage among the people of the Global South and promoting practical cooperation.

This article is an exclusive article of the Observer Network. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited.

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