Welcome to Civil Society Watch Monthly Bulletin, an e-newsletter of updates and analyses concerning civil society's rights to freedom of association, assembly and expression around the world. The Bulletin is compiled by the staff at Civil Society Watch, a programme of CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation. Please feel free to forward the Bulletin to friends and colleagues. We welcome your comments and contributions!
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CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation is an international movement of civil society with members and partners in over a hundred countries. CIVICUS nurtures the foundation, growth and protection of citizen action throughout the world especially in areas where participatory democracy and citizens’ freedom of association are threatened. The Civil Society Watch Programme of CIVICUS seeks to mobilise quick, principled and effective responses to events that threaten civil society fundamental freedoms of expression, association and assembly.
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The CSW team, in cooperation with the Belarusian Pro-Democratic Assembly of NGO and FIDH organized a side event at during the Universal Periodic Review of Belarus at the UN Human Rights Council to discuss restrictions to freedom of association in the country. In particular the impact of Criminal Code Article 193.1, which establishes criminal responsibility for participation in the activities of an unregistered association, and advocacy actions fighting this barrier to freedom of association, were discussed. More information on the event and impact on the UPR process can be found here.
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Online global portal bringing together young feminists working on gender equality and women’s rights launchedRead more
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CIVICUS vehemently condemns Israeli government’s attack on humanitarian ships Read more
CIVICUS warns of grave dangers to civil society activists in Kenya Read more
Letter to the Uzbek President in respect of the continued detention of HIV/AIDS activist, Maksim PopovRead more
CIVICUS calls on Belarus to adopt Universal Periodic Review recommendations including repeal of controversial provisions limiting freedom of association Read more
CIVICUS expresses concerns as Uganda replicates Ethiopia’s authoritarian approach in the run up to the elections Read more
CIVICUS calls for sustained pressure on Egypt amid clampdown on civil society Read more
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BAHRAIN: Senior human rights defender prevented from leaving the countryRead more
BANGLADESH: Editor of ‘Amar Desh’ detained under anti-terrorism lawRead more
BURUNDI: Civil society groups express concerns about diminishing space for independent human rights reportingRead more
CHINA: New photocopy rules in Tibet likely to restrict freedom of expressionRead more
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Leading civil society activist assassinatedRead more
EGYPT: Defamation laws used to prosecute dissenting voices Read more
Civil society organisations defend their independent monitoring of elections
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Court upholds civil society role in monitoring electionsRead more
IRAN: Political activists secretly executedRead more
ISRAEL: Restrictive NGO bill introduced in Knesset Read more
Prominent Palestinian activists indicted for aiding Hizbullah Read more
PAKISTAN: Access to You Tube blocked because of “growing sacrilegious content” Read more
RUSSIAN FEDERATION: Human rights activist jailed for five years in questionable circumstances Read more;
Over 200 protestors arrested at freedom of assembly ralliesRead more
SWAZILAND: Trade union activist dies in custody under suspicious circumstancesRead more
TANZANIA: HIV/AIDS activists ‘escorted’ out of the country Read more
UGANDA: Journalists face increased threats as clampdown on media increasesRead more
USA: Civil society groups urge President Obama to ease restrictions on charitable giving practicesRead more
ZIMBABWE: March by journalists disallowed citing security concerns ahead of World CupRead more
Police arrest staff of Gay and Lesbian rights groupRead more
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The CSW team has taken a number of advocacy actions responding to reports from EWS partners including: a letter to the President of Uzbekistan regarding a human rights defender’s incarceration; a public statement on authoritarian trends in Uganda and Ethiopia; and a call to the international community to support civil society in Egypt. See Alerts and Analysis above for details. The CSW team is progressively updating individual country pages based on partners’ reports and quarterly reports are now available for the United States ( click here) and Uzbekistan ( click here). Designers are working on the look and layout of the new interactive database and platform for action. A preliminary design can be viewed here and comments are welcome at cswatch@civicus.org.
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Renate Bloem is the CIVICUS Representative to the UN in Geneva and former President of CONGO (Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations). Renate shares her experience of civil society engagement at the UN Human Rights Council.
Read more
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DISCLAIMER
The views expressed in this bulletin
are a reflection of those contained in
the original reports to which they are
linked here, and are not necessarily
those of CIVICUS: World Alliance for
Citizen Participation.
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