Opinions & Features

How Trump’s Second Term Is Isolating the US on Human Rights

Opinions & Features
By Mandeep Tiwana, secretary-general of CIVICUS and Mariya Parodi, media adviser to CIVICUS.

The Constitution Isn’t Optional: Why USA Belongs on the CIVICUS Monitor Watchlist

Opinions & Features
By Mandeep Tiwana, Secretary General of CIVICUS Successive United States governments have prided themselves on being governed by the Constitution of 1788.

Why Locally Led Development Works and How Funders Can Get It Right

Opinions & Features
By Naomi Ayot Oyaro, Executive Director of CAPAIDS Uganda and Tais Siqueira, Local Leadership Lab Coordinator at CIVICUS In Uganda, local communities are routinely sidelined in development processes, despite knowing most about their own needs.

Imprisoned activist MPs in Eswatini highlight a growing crisis of civic freedoms across Africa

Opinions & Features
By Kgalalelo Gaebee, CIVICUS' Communications Officer and Paul Mulindwa,  CIVICUS' Advocacy and Campaigns Regional Lead for Africa  Mduduzi Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube’s ongoing imprisonment is more than a national tragedy.

Intersectional Feminist Leadership Needed to Realise Global Goals

Opinions & Features
By Jesselina Rana, UN advisor at CIVICUS In its 80-year history the UN has never once been led by a woman.

Strengthening the UN Human Rights Council: Pathways to Enhanced Credibility and Effectiveness

Opinions & Features
By Samuel King, Inés Pousadela   Abstract The UN Human Rights Council is at a critical juncture.

Repressive Laws Are Increasingly Being Used to Silence Activists Across Asia

Opinions & Features
  By Josef Benedict, Asia Pacific researcher and Rajavelu Karunanithi, Asia advocacy and campaigns lead for CIVICUS From Hong Kong to India, governments are passing and weaponizing new laws to pursue and jail whoever speaks up for human rights.

Ahead of COP30, environmentalists risk freedom to defend nature

Opinions & Features
Ana María Palacios Briceño and Eduardo Marenco Ana María Palacios Briceño leads civic space research for the Americas at the CIVICUS Monitor.

Redefining funding mindsets through solidarity

Opinions & Features
By Taís Siqueira, Local Leadership Lab Coordinator Recent funding cuts made many admit something they’d deep down always known: the development community is in desperate need of a reset.

The Silencing of Hong Kong

Opinions & Features
By Andrew Firmin,  CIVICUS Editor-in-Chief, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.

Mexico’s Judicial Elections: A Democratic Mirage

Opinions & Features
By Ines Pousadela, CIVICUS Senior Research Specialist, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.

Poland’s Democratic Deadlock

Opinions & Features
Ines Pousadela, CIVICUS Senior Research Specialist, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.

South Korea‘s Democracy Renewed

Opinions & Features
By Andrew Firmin, CIVICUS Editor-in-Chief, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.

Civil Society Is Holding the Line. Will Washington Notice?

Opinions & Features
This piece is written by Mandeep Tiwana, Secretary General of CIVICUS.

El Salvador: Bukele’s Authoritarianism Goes Global

Opinions & Features
By Inés M.

Portugal: No Longer an Exception to Europe’s Far-right Rise

Opinions & Features
By Inés M.

Romania’s Electoral Crisis: A Warning Shot for Democracy in the Digital Age

Opinions & Features
By Inés M.

A New Pope at a Pivotal Moment: Civil Society’s Hopes for Leo XIV

Opinions & Features
By Andrew Firmin, CIVICUS Editor-in-Chief, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.

From Grief to Action: Demands for Democratic Renewal in the Balkans

Opinions & Features
By  Inés M.

Rights with No Age Limit: Hopes for a Convention on the Rights of Older People

Opinions & Features
By Samuel King, a researcher with the Horizon Europe-funded research project ENSURED: Shaping Cooperation for a World in Transition and Inés M.

A Feminist Future for the UN: Why the Next Secretary-General Must Champion Civil Society

Opinions & Features
By Jesselina Rana, the UN Advisor at CIVICUS’s New York office and Mandeep S.

Standing Firm: Civil Society at the Forefront of the Climate Resistance

Opinions & Features
By Andrew Firmin, CIVICUS Editor-in-Chief, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.
Featured

Civil Society’s Reform Vision Gains Urgency as the USA Abandons UN Institutions

Opinions & Features
Today’s multiple and connected crises – including conflicts, climate breakdown and democratic regression – are overwhelming the capabilities of the international institutions designed to address problems states can’t or won’t solve.
Featured

Turkey’s Democratic Uprising: A Generation Takes a Stand

Opinions & Features
In the heart of Istanbul, a remarkable transformation is underway.
Featured

Digital Democracy at a Crossroads. Key Takeaways from RigthsCon2025

Opinions & Features
In an increasingly digital world, democratic practices are evolving to encompass new forms of participation.

Civil Society’s Reform Vision Gains Urgency as the USA Abandons UN Institutions

Opinions & Features
By Andrew Firmin,  Today’s multiple and connected crises – including conflicts, climate breakdown and democratic regression – are overwhelming the capabilities of the international institutions designed to address problems states can’t or won’t solve.
Featured

How to Turn the Tide: Resisting the Global Assault on Gender Rights

Opinions & Features
By Ines Pousadela, CIVICUS Senior Research Specialist, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.
Featured

A Test of Humanity: Migrants’ Rights in a World Turning Inward

Opinions & Features
By Ines Pousadela, CIVICUS Senior Research Specialist, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.

Civil Society: The Last Line of Defence in a World of Cascading Crises

Opinions & Features
By Inés M.
Featured

Funding Disruptions Are a Systemic Failure – Philanthropy Must Do What’s Right and Support Local Leadership

Opinions & Features
The slashing of US aid funding by Donald Trump and Elon Musk, and cuts or planned cuts in international support by several European states, threaten to cut off the oxygen supply to a civil society already in a critical condition.
Featured

International Women's Day, 2025 - It's Time for a Feminist Woman Secretary General At the UN

Opinions & Features
By Jesselina Rana, CIVICUS UN Advisor, in New York In 2025, the United Nations will celebrate 80 years of shaping global policies, fostering peace, and driving international development.
Featured

A Global Retreat from Solidarity

Opinions & Features
By Jessica Corredor Villamil, Chief Officer, Advocacy and Solidarity Action at CIVICUS.

Belarus: A Sham Election That Fools No One

Opinions & Features
By Andrew Firmin,  Editor-in-Chief and co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-authors of the State of Civil Society Report.
Featured

Kenya’s Shadow War on Activism

Opinions & Features
By Andrew Firmin, CIVICUS Editor-in-Chief, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.
Featured

Colombia’s Historic Child Marriage Ban

Opinions & Features
By Ines Pousadela  Colombia has just marked a historic milestone in the global campaign against child marriage, with the Senate passing one of Latin America and the Caribbean’s most comprehensive bans on child marriage and early unions.

Civil Society Trends for 2025: Nine Global Challenges, One Reason for Hope

Opinions & Features
By Andrew Firmin and Inés M.
Featured

South Korea’s Democracy Defended

Opinions & Features
By Andrew Firmin, Editor-in-Chief, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.
Featured

From Outrage to Action: Global Protests Against Gender-based Violence Resonate in Kenya

Opinions & Features
By Inés M.
Featured

Corruption in Uganda: A Barrier to Local Leadership and Aspirations

Opinions & Features
By Hannah Stacey Baluka.
Featured

This Year Saw Most of the World Repressed – but in Civil Society there is Hope

Opinions & Features
By Mandeep Tiwana, Interim Co-Secretary General, CIVICUS.

COP29 Falls Short on Finance

Opinions & Features
By Andrew Firmin, CIVICUS Editor-in-Chief, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.
Featured

International community: Speak up now about Israel’s atrocities against Palestinians

Opinions & Features
By Jesselina Rana, Human rights lawyer and UN adviser at the New York Hub of CIVICUS Every week, the evidence mounts that Israel is committing grave war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip that likely amount to genocide.
Featured

Solidarity is the missing link to a stronger civil society ecosystem

Opinions & Features
Ecosystem is a widespread term today, having grown in popularity in recent years.

A UN 2.0 Needs Robust People’s Civil Society Participation

Opinions & Features
By Jesselina Rana, UN advisor at CIVICUS and Mandeep Tiwana, chief of evidence and engagement at CIVICUS plus representative to the UN in New York A cascade of crises endangers our world.

Climate Activists Target Culture Greenwashing

Opinions & Features
By Andrew Firmin, CIVICUS Editor-in-Chief, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.
Featured

Venezuela Struggles to Hold on to Hope

Opinions & Features
By Ines Pousadela, CIVICUS Senior Research Specialist, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.

LOCAL LEADERSHIP LABS’ REFLECTIONS & INSIGHTS: THE SOUNDING BOARD

Opinions & Features
By Taís Siqueira (Local Leadership Labs Coordinator) and Joanna Makhlouf (Local Leadership Labs Assistant) The Sounding Board (SB) played a crucial role in the inception of Local Leadership Labs (LLL) by advising on partner selection, identifying priority countries within the two regions, and sense-making the initial LLL framework.
Featured

Cambodia’s Young Environmental Activists Pay a Heavy Price

Opinions & Features
By Andrew Firmin, CIVICUS Editor-in-Chief, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report It’s risky to try to protect the environment in authoritarian Cambodia.
Featured

Eswatini: Jailing of Politicians the Latest Act of Repression

Opinions & Features
By Andrew Firmin, CIVICUS Editor-in-Chief, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report Two politicians have just been sentenced to long prison terms in Eswatini.

Kenya’s Protests: More than a Question of Tax

Opinions & Features
By Andrew Firmin, CIVICUS Editor-in-Chief, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.

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