Interviews

Featured

VIETNAM: ‘We hope UN member states will listen to civil society’

Interviews
  Ahead of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Vietnam’s human rights record at the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council on 22 January 2019, CIVICUS speaks to Anna Nguyen from VOICE, a civil society organisation that promotes civil society development and advocates for human rights, including refugee protection, and the rule of law in Vietnam.
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ARGENTINA: ‘Change is inevitable. It is just a matter of time’

Interviews
  Twitter: Edurne Cárdenas In 2018, after years of civil society efforts, Argentina’s congress discussed an initiative to legalise abortion for the first time.
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BOLIVIA: Increasing reduction of spaces immune to state co-optation or repression

Interviews
CEDLA: Javier Gómez Bolivia was home to a series of protests in 2018.
Getty Images
Featured

ISRAEL: There is a lack of political will to end the occupation

Interviews
  Twitter: Amit Gilutz After a tough year for dissent in the occupied Palestinian territories, CIVICUS speaks to Amit Gilutz, spokesperson of B’Tselem – The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories.
Featured

INDIA: When justice is on your side, you have to keep on fighting

Interviews
Flickr: Anand Grover After years of civil society campaigning and legal action, gay sex was decriminalised in India in 2018.
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MIGRATION: ‘The way our countries are treating refugees –this isn't the Europe we want’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks to Giorgia Linardi, spokesperson for Sea-Watch in Italy, and Julian Pahlke, chairperson of Jugend Rettet (‘Youth Rescues’) and former crew member of the Iuventa ship.
Featured

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE: Congolese doctor and Iraqi survivor recognised for efforts to end wartime sexual violence

Interviews
On the occasion of the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict, CIVICUS speaks to Susannah Sirkin, director of policy and senior advisor with Physicians for Human Rights (PHR).
Featured

UN SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR: ‘Counter-terrorism is devouring international law’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks to Agnes Callamard, United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, about her latest report, Saving lives is not a crime, which goes beyond documenting attacks on civil society to show how closing civic space also affects people who need life-saving help.
Featured

HAITI: The conditions for democracy are not being met

Interviews
French Following the publication of our report, ‘Democracy for All: Beyond a Crisis of Imagination’, we continue to interview civil society activists and leaders about their work to promote democratic practices and principles, the challenges they encounter and the victories they score in doing so.
Featured

PAKISTAN: ‘Democratic forces have become weak due to prolonged military regimes’

Interviews
As part of our 2018 report on the theme of reimagining democracy, we are interviewing civil society activists and leaders about their work to promote democratic practices and principles, the challenges they encounter and the victories they score.
Featured

FIJI: ‘In a democracy, the power of the people doesn’t begin and end at the ballot box’

Interviews
As part of our 2018 report on the theme of reimagining democracy, we are interviewing civil society activists and leaders about their work to promote democratic practices and principles, the challenges they encounter and the victories they score.
Featured

Burundi bans international NGOs

Interviews
Burundi’s National Council for Security in September announced a blanket 3-month ban on international NGOs.
Featured

VENEZUELA: ‘Venezuelans are not emigrating in search for better opportunities, but to save their lives’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks to Alicia Pantoja, co-founder of Manos Veneguayas.
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SOUTH KOREA: ‘Achieving victory by our own hands'

Interviews
As part of our 2018 report on the theme of reimagining democracy, we are interviewing civil society activists and leaders about their work to promote democratic practices and principles, the challenges they encounter and the victories they score.
Featured

NICARAGUA: ‘The protests expressed an articulated demand for genuine democracy, based on respect for the popular will’

Interviews
As part of our 2018 report on the theme of reimagining democracy, we are interviewing civil society activists, leaders and specialists about their work to promote democratic practices and principles, the challenges they encounter and the victories they score.
Featured

SWEDEN: ‘Swedish civil society needs to defend democracy at the grassroots level on a daily basis’

Interviews
As part of our 2018 report on the theme of reimagining democracy, we are interviewing civil society activists and leaders about their work to promote democratic practices and principles, the challenges they encounter and the victories they score.
Featured

CIVIL SOCIETY ACCOUNTABILITY: ‘As civic space is under attack, building trust in civil society is more urgent than ever’

Interviews
Español As part of our 2018 report on the theme of reimagining democracy, we are interviewing civil society activists, leaders and specialists about their work to promote democratic practices and principles, the challenges they encounter and the victories they score.
Featured

THE MALDIVES: ‘Civic space is practically nonexistent now’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks to Shahindha Ismail, Executive Director of the Maldivian Democracy Network, about the ongoing crackdown on dissent and the upcoming presidential elections in the Maldives.
Featured

BINDING TREATY: ‘It's not a silver bullet, but it will be a step forward in regulating excessive transnational corporate power’

Interviews
Spanish  As part of our 2018 report on the theme of reimagining democracy, we are interviewing civil society activists, leaders and specialists about their work to promote democratic practices and principles, the challenges they encounter and the victories they score.
Featured

Tanzania: ‘People can’t say what they want to say’

Interviews
As part of our 2018 report on the theme of reimagining democracy, we are interviewing civil society activists and leaders about their work to promote democratic practices and principles, the challenges they encounter and the victories they score.
Featured

SLOVENIA: ‘A fragmented political reality’

Interviews
As part of our 2018 report on the theme of reimagining democracy, we are interviewing civil society activists and leaders about their work to promote democratic practices and principles, the challenges they encounter and the victories they score.
Featured

LATVIA: ‘Faced with hatred, we focus on delivering a human rights message’

Interviews
As part of our 2018 report on the theme of reimagining democracy, we are interviewing civil society activists and leaders about their work to promote democratic practices and principles, the challenges they encounter and the victories they score.
Featured

South Sudan: ‘Our current regime is democratic only on paper, not in practice’

Interviews
As part of our 2018 report on the theme of reimagining democracy, we are interviewing civil society activists and leaders about their work to promote democratic practices and principles, the challenges they encounter and the victories they score.
Featured

West Papua, Indonesia: Failure to implement human rights protections in law contributes to violations

Interviews
As part of our 2018 report on the theme of reimagining democracy, we are interviewing civil society activists and leaders about their work to promote democratic practices and principles, the challenges they encounter and the victories they score.
Featured

‘People are eager to use any opportunities at hand to influence decision-making’

Interviews
As part of our 2018 report on the theme of reimagining democracy, we are interviewing civil society activists and leaders about their work to promote democratic practices and principles, the challenges they encounter and the victories they score.
Featured

MÉXICO: ‘Buscamos incidir en las políticas públicas del próximo gobierno para contribuir a solucionar los problemas del país’

Interviews
English En el marco de nuestro informe temático 2018 sobre “Reimaginar la Democracia”, estamos dialogando con líderes, activistas y especialistas de la sociedad civil sobre su labor de promoción de las prácticas y principios democráticos, los desafíos que enfrentan y los logros alcanzados.
Featured

EGYPT: ‘The security-first approach is not working’

Interviews
As part of our 2018 report on the theme of reimagining democracy, we are interviewing civil society activists and leaders about their work to promote democratic practices and principles, the challenges they encounter and the victories they score.
Featured

‘Democracy dies when no one works at keeping it alive’

Interviews
As part of our 2018 report on the theme of reimagining democracy, we are interviewing civil society activists and leaders and their allies about their work to promote democratic practices and principles, the challenges they encounter and the victories they score.
Featured

IRAN: Political humour as a tool against authoritarian regimes

Interviews
Ahead of the publication of the 2018 State of Civil Society Report on the theme of ‘Reimagining Democracy’, we are interviewing civil society activists and leaders about their work to promote democratic practices and principles, the challenges they encounter and the victories they score in doing so.
Featured

‘Democracy is a struggle that never ends’

Interviews
As part of our 2018 report on the theme of reimagining democracy, we are interviewing civil society activists and leaders about their work to promote democratic practices and principles, the challenges they encounter and the victories they score.
Featured

‘Most of what you hear is noise and government propaganda’

Interviews
  As part of our 2018 report on the theme of reimagining democracy, we are interviewing civil society activists and leaders about their work to promote democratic practices and principles, the challenges they encounter and the victories they score.
Featured

‘What is underway is the promotion of an unequal society’

Interviews
As part of our 2018 report on the theme of reimagining democracy, we are interviewing civil society activists and leaders about their work to promote democratic practices and principles, the challenges they encounter and the victories they score.
Featured

‘We are increasingly seeing the dark side of civil society’

Interviews
  Ahead of the publication of the 2018 report on the theme of ‘Reimagining Democracy’, we are interviewing civil society activists and leaders about their work to promote democratic practices and principles, the challenges they encounter and the victories they score in doing so.
Featured

‘Civil society needs a compelling counter-narrative’

Interviews
Ahead of the publication of the 2018 State of Civil Society Report on the theme of ‘Reimagining Democracy’, we are interviewing civil society activists and leaders about their work to promote democratic practices and principles, the challenges they encounter and the victories they score in doing so.
Featured

Des citoyen(ne)s responsables peuvent devenir des sentinelles de la démocratie

Interviews
English En vue de la publication du Rapport sur l'état de la société civile 2018 sur le thème de « Réinventer la démocratie », nous parlons et échangeons avec des activistes et des leaders de la société civile à propos de leur travail pour promouvoir les principes et des pratiques démocratiques, sur les défis qu'ils rencontrent et les victoires qu'ils obtiennent.
Featured

‘We are an activist group that seeks to restore faith in democracy’

Interviews
Ahead of the publication of the 2018 State of Civil Society Report on the theme of ‘Reimagining Democracy’, we are interviewing civil society activists and leaders about their work to promote democratic governance, the challenges they encounter in doing so, and the victories they score.
Featured

‘People have power, even if they don’t usually feel like they do’

Interviews
Ahead of the publication of the 2018 State of Civil Society Report on the theme of ‘Reimagining Democracy’, we are interviewing civil society activists and leaders about their work to promote democratic practices and principles, the challenges they encounter and the victories they score in doing so.
Featured

‘Cuando los migrantes son ciudadanos de segunda, se degrada la democracia’

Interviews
English En vistas de la publicación del Informe 2018 sobre el Estado de la Sociedad Civil, que girará en torno del tema “Reimaginar la Democracia”, estamos dialogando con líderes, activistas y especialistas de la sociedad civil para comprender su labor en la promoción de prácticas y principios democráticos, los desafíos que enfrentan y los logros alcanzados.
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‘#MeToo is a feminist movement and feminism perfects democracy’

Interviews
Ahead of the publication of the 2018 State of Civil Society Report on the theme of ‘reimagining democracy’, we are interviewing civil society activists and leaders about their work to promote democratic governance, and the challenges they encounter in doing so.
Featured

‘Democracy is not failing the American people - politicians are’

Interviews
Ahead of the publication of the 2018 State of Civil Society Report on the theme of ‘Reimagining Democracy’, we are interviewing civil society activists and leaders about their work to promote democratic governance, and the challenges they encounter in doing so.
Featured

Fed up with corruption, civil society organises Malawians to take to the streets

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks to Timothy Pagonachi Mtambo, a human rights defender and the ex-ecutive director of Center for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) in Malawi.
Featured

The Irish referendum, an exercise in deliberative democracy

Interviews
Ahead of the publication of the 2018 State of Civil Society Report on the theme of ‘Reimagining Democracy’, we are interviewing civil society activists, leaders and others about their work to promote democratic practices and principles, the challenges they encounter and the victories they score in doing so.
Featured

‘People invested in wanting a change’ – civil society and the Malaysia elections

Interviews
Malaysia’s May election saw the ruling party defeated for the first time in 61 years, amid widespread public anger about corruption.
Featured

Silence by the international community gives Israel the green light to continue its human rights violations

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks to Amjad Al Shawi about the disproportionate use of force and extreme violence against peaceful protesters in Gaza and the reasons why the world cannot remain silent about these monstrous acts.
Featured

Burundi referendum a blatant violation of its Constitution

Interviews
Ahead of the controversial referendum scheduled to take place in Burundi on 17 May 2018, CIVICUS speaks to human rights lawyer and civil society activist Janvier Bigirimana about the referendum’s implications for democracy.
Featured

Case of Zambia’s 42-for-42 tests freedom of expression and assembly

Interviews
On May 17, six Zambia activists, civil society leader’s and a musician will appear before the magistrates in Court 3 in the capital Lusaka.
Featured

Syria’s CSO sector and population buckle under humanitarian crisis

Interviews
Following the chemical attack in Syria and the subsequent airstrikes on Syria by the United States, United Kingdom and France, CIVICUS interviews a representative of The Arguendo Initiative about the humanitarian crisis and human rights violations taking place in Ghouta, Syria.
Featured

Filipino activists stand firm after government adds them to list of terrorists

Interviews
The Philippines government recently listed activists and a UN Special Rapporteur as terrorists and has threatened to pull out of the International Criminal Court.
Featured

Another puzzling break-in prompts Uganda CSO to move operations to police station

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks to Human Rights Awareness and Protection Forum (HRAPF) executive director Adrian Jjuuko (pictured) after their offices were broken into recently.
Featured

‘La presencia de mujeres en espacios de representación política es buena no solo para las mujeres sino también para la democracia’

Interviews
English En noviembre de 2017 Argentina aprobó una ley de paridad de género con el objeto de garantizar un 50% de representación femenina en su Congreso Nacional.

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