May 2010
Issue: 53



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!
To subscribe or unsubscribe please visit www.civicus.org/csw/csw-newsletter or email cswcommunity@civicus.org


Amnesty International Report 2010
Click here to download

Freedom House Report on the ‘Worlds Worst Human Rights Abusers’
Click here to download

International Center for Civil Society Law Journal
Click here to download

International Crisis Group: Cameroon: Fragile State
Click here to download

Myanmar Elections
Click here to download

International Trade Union Confederation Annual Survey
Click here to download



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.


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.


Online global portal bringing together young feminists working on gender equality and women’s rights launched
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Highlights


The Elders speak for the Every Human Has Rights (EHHR) campaign in a series of exclusive interviews.Watch them here

Ethnic violence continues in southern Kyrgyzstan
Read CIVICUS' statement
Read a report from a local civil society organization


CIVICUS vehemently condemns Israeli government’s attack on humanitarian ships
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CIVICUS warns of grave dangers to civil society activists in Kenya
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Letter to the Uzbek President in respect of the continued detention of HIV/AIDS activist, Maksim Popov
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CIVICUS calls on Belarus to adopt Universal Periodic Review recommendations including repeal of controversial provisions limiting freedom of association
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CIVICUS expresses concerns as Uganda replicates Ethiopia’s authoritarian approach in the run up to the elections
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CIVICUS calls for sustained pressure on Egypt amid clampdown on civil society
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BAHRAIN: Senior human rights defender prevented from leaving the country
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BANGLADESH: Editor of ‘Amar Desh’ detained under anti-terrorism law
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BURUNDI: Civil society groups express concerns about diminishing space for independent human rights reporting
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CHINA: New photocopy rules in Tibet likely to restrict freedom of expression
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DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Leading civil society activist assassinated
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EGYPT: Defamation laws used to prosecute dissenting voices
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Civil society organisations defend their independent monitoring of elections
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Court upholds civil society role in monitoring elections
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IRAN: Political activists secretly executed
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ISRAEL: Restrictive NGO bill introduced in Knesset
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Prominent Palestinian activists indicted for aiding Hizbullah
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PAKISTAN: Access to You Tube blocked because of “growing sacrilegious content”
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RUSSIAN FEDERATION: Human rights activist jailed for five years in questionable circumstances
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Over 200 protestors arrested at freedom of assembly rallies
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SWAZILAND: Trade union activist dies in custody under suspicious circumstances
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TANZANIA: HIV/AIDS activists ‘escorted’ out of the country
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UGANDA: Journalists face increased threats as clampdown on media increases
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USA: Civil society groups urge President Obama to ease restrictions on charitable giving practices
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ZIMBABWE: March by journalists disallowed citing security concerns ahead of World Cup
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Police arrest staff of Gay and Lesbian rights group
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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.






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.
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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.

CONTACT US

EDITORS
Adam Nord
Devendra Tak
Mandeep Tiwana
Netsanet Belay
Sonia Zilberman
P.O. Box 933
Southdale, 2135
South Africa
1420K Street NW,
Suite 900
Washington D.C.
20005 USA

DESIGN AND LAYOUT
Jessica Hume
Oluwakorede Asuni

Tel: +27 11 833 5959
Fax:+27 11 833 7997

Tel: +202 331-8518
Fax: +202 331-8774