Interviews

Featured

IRAN: ‘The severity of the crackdown only shows how scared the regime is of the protest movement’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Sohrab Razaghi, executive director of Volunteer Activists (VA), about the situation in Iran on the anniversary of the anti-regime protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini at the hands of morality police.
Featured

GLOBAL: ‘With a wealth tax on the biggest fortunes, extreme poverty can be eradicated’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about climate change, global inequality and the need for redistribution with Adrien Fabre, a France-based climate economist and founder of Global Redistribution Advocates (GRA).
Featured

NAMIBIA: ‘We have seen some progress on LGBTQI+ rights, but there is a lot of work still to be done’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about recent moves to ban same-sex marriage in Namibia with Kevin Wessels, a young activist and a seasoned consultant and social entrepreneur working to advance human rights in Namibia.
Featured

GABON: ‘Civic space and the conditions for the exercise of human rights were difficult under the former regime’

Interviews
CIVICUS discusses the military coup in Gabon with Georges Mpaga, National Executive President of the Network of Free Civil Society Organisations of Gabon (ROLBG).
Featured

VENEZUELA: ‘The Darién Gap is claiming many lives that governments cannot even quantify’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Ana María Diez, president of Coalition for Venezuela, about the humanitarian crisis of Venezuelan migrants trying to reach the USA by land.
Featured

BANGLADESH: ‘The legal vulnerability of LGBTQI+ people leads to harassment and discrimination’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about the state of civic space and the rights of excluded groups in Bangladesh with Shahanur Islam, founder secretary general of JusticeMakers Bangladesh (JMBD) and founder president of JMBD in France.
Featured

PHILIPPINES: ‘The government is headed by a former dictator’s son who reached power in a suspicious manner’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Nymia Pimentel-Simbulan about the human rights situation in the Philippines since the start of Ferdinand Marcos Junior’s government.
Featured

CHAD: ‘The government, local groups and society at large have all joined efforts to help refugees’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Monim Haroon, Emergency Communications Manager at the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), about the situation of Sudanese migrants in Chad’s refugee camps and civil society’s work to support them.
Featured

PALESTINE: ‘People have lost confidence in an international system that fails to protect the powerless against the powerful’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about ongoing repression in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) and the international response to Israeli aggression with Susan Power, Head of Legal Research and Advocacy at Al-Haq.
Featured

PHILIPPINES: ‘Historical memory of martial law under Marcos Senior gives us strength to persevere’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Cristina Palabay, Secretary General of Karapatan, about the human rights situation in the Philippines since the start of Ferdinand Marcos Junior’s government.
Featured

MALDIVES: ‘Calling this a free and fair election would be a betrayal to the people of Maldives’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about the upcoming presidential election in Maldives with Shahindha Ismail, founder of the Maldivian Democracy Network (MDN).
Featured

UGANDA: ‘We’ll participate in COP28 to pressure world leaders to divert funding away from oil and gas’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about recent developments involving the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project and civil society’s efforts to stop it with Zaki Mamdoo, Campaign Coordinator of Stop EACOP.
Featured

ZIMBABWE: ‘Election violence is a cover for ideological ambivalence and lack of substantive programmes’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about the general election in Zimbabwe and the role of civil society with Wellington Mbofana, former director of the Civic Education Network Trust (CIVNET), a civil society organisation (CSO) that recently shut down due to lack of funding, and a former board member of several Zimbabwean CSOs.
Featured

AI: ‘The biggest challenges are the biases and lack of transparency of algorithms’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) for civil society’s work with Omran Najjar, Kshitij Sharma, Leen D’hondt, Nasilele Amatende and Petya Kangalova of Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT).
Featured

BULGARIA: ‘Our society has finally become sensitised to domestic and gender-based violence’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Victoria Petrova, Communications and Development Director at the Bulgarian Fund for Women (BFW), about civil society’s struggles to end domestic and gender-based violence in Bulgaria.
Featured

COP28: ‘For us, climate change is not an abstract concept of future concern but an urgent reality of the present’

Interviews
CIVICUS discusses the hopes and roles of civil society at the forthcoming COP28 climate summit with climate justice activist Disha Ravi, founder of India’s branch of the youth-led climate movement Fridays for Future.
Featured

NIGER: ‘Threats don’t solve problems; the international response must emphasise dialogue and negotiation’

Interviews
CIVICUS discusses the recent military coup in Niger with Clément Kocou Gbedey, Niger’s National Coordinator of the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP).
Featured

ECUADOR: ‘Democracy has allowed room for organised crime and narco-politics to grow’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Mauricio Alarcón Salvador, executive director of Fundación Ciudadanía y Desarrollo (Citizenship and Development Foundation, FCD), about the elections that will be held in Ecuador on 20 August, the eruption of political violence and organised crime and the implications for civil society and the future of the country.
Featured

SENEGAL: ‘The situation is becoming more tense as we approach the 2024 elections’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about the deterioration of civic space in the run-up to next year’s elections in Senegal with Sadikh Niass, Secretary General of the African Meeting for the Defence of Human Rights (Rencontre Africaine pour la Défense des Droits de l’Homme, RADDHO), and Iba Sarr, Director of Programmes at RADDHO.
Featured

KYRGYZSTAN: ‘True freedom cannot be granted by external forces; it needs to be claimed by people’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about the restrictive conditions for civil society in Kyrgyzstan with Tolekan Ismailova, founding president of the Coalition for Democracy and Civil Society and director of the human rights movement One World-Kyrgyzstan (Bir Duino-Kyrgyzstan, BDK).
Featured

COP28: ‘Having a climate summit in an oil-and-gas country can jeopardise the outcomes’

Interviews
CIVICUS discusses the hopes and roles of civil society at the forthcoming COP28 climate summit with Harlee Richards, strategist at Follow This.
Featured

UK: ‘We engage in disruptive protest to keep the climate catastrophe in people’s minds’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Mitch Rose, a volunteer activist with Just Stop Oil, about climate activism and its criminalisation in the UK.
Featured

POLAND: ‘In reaction to conservative backlash, public support for LGBTQI+ rights is on the rise’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about 2023 Pride and Polish LGBTQI+ rights organisations’ response to the conservative backlash against LGBTQI+ rights with Annamaria Linczowska, advocacy and litigation officer at Campaign Against Homophobia (KPH).
Featured

DRC: ‘Defending the environment means becoming the target of politicians and businesspeople’

Interviews
CIVICUS discusses the hopes and roles of civil society at the forthcoming COP28 climate summit with Guillaume Kalonji, a youth climate activist and founder of Rise Up Movement DRC.
Featured

NEPAL: ‘This landmark decision represents significant progress for all LGBTQI+ people’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Sanjay Sharma, Programme Director of Nepal’s Blue Diamond Society, about the recent Supreme Court’s order to register same-sex marriages and civil society’s role in advancing LGBTQI+ rights in the country.
Featured

AI REGULATION: ‘There must be a balance between promoting innovation and protecting rights’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Nadia Benaissa, legal policy advisor at Bits of Freedom, about the risks artificial intelligence (AI) poses to human rights and the role civil society is playing in developing a legal framework for AI governance.
Featured

SPAIN: ‘The LGBTQI+ community fears both legal and social backlash’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about the situation of LGBTQI+ people in the context of Spain’s election with Emilio de Benito, spokesperson for Health and Seniors of the LGTB+ Collective of Madrid (COGAM).
Featured

HONG KONG: ‘Any activism that the government dislikes can be deemed a national security violation’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about the persecution faced by Hong Kong activists in exile with Anouk Wear, research and policy adviser at Hong Kong Watch.
Featured

TURKEY: ‘For the embattled LGBTQI+ movement, simply persisting in taking to the streets is an achievement’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about 2023 Pride and the civil society response to the Turkish government’s anti-LGBTQI+ campaign with Damla Umut Uzun, international relations and fundraising officer at Kaos Gay and Lesbian Cultural Research and Solidarity Association (Kaos GL).
Featured

ANGOLA: ‘The untrue government narrative reveals an aversion to civil society denouncing malpractice’

Interviews
 PORTUGUESE CIVICUS discusses the state of civic space and the new restrictions being imposed on civil society in Angola with Emilio José Manuel, focal point for Angola of the Lusophone Platform for Human Rights and founding member of the Working Group for Human Rights Monitoring in Angola (GTMDH).
Featured

ESTONIA: ‘Legal changes deepen the cultural shift favourable to LGBTQI+ rights’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about civil society’s role in the recent legalisation of same-sex marriage in Estonia with Kelly Grossthal, head of strategic litigation at the Estonian Human Rights Centre (EHRC).
Featured

FINLAND: ‘We’ll have the most right-wing government since the 1930s’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about Finland’s new government with Silla Ristimäki, development policy specialist at Fingo.
Featured

GUATEMALA: ‘Our democracy is at risk in the hands of political-criminal networks’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Evelyn Recinos Contreras about Guatemala’s general elections – where a candidate promising reform has surprisingly made the second round of the presidential race – and the prospects for democratic change and opening up civic space.
Featured

GERMANY: ‘Our street blockades hurt society the least and put no one’s life in danger’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Zoe Ruge of Last Generation about climate activism and its criminalisation in Germany.
Featured

AUSTRALIA: ‘People deeply understand that rights and liberties are won through protest’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with David Mejia-Canales, senior lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC), about anti-protest legislation being introduced in states across Australia and its impact on civil society activism.
Featured

ANGOLA: ‘The new NGO Law is just a way of legalising the government’s arrogance and excesses’

Interviews
PORTUGUESE CIVICUS discusses the state of civic space and the new restrictions being imposed on the work of Angolan civil society with Godinho Cristóvão, a jurist, human rights defender and executive director of the association Movimento de Defensores de Direitos Humanos de Angola (Movement of Human Rights Defenders of Angola, KUTAKESA).
Featured

GUATEMALA: ‘These elections are key because they give us a chance to take a different path’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Jordán Rodas Andrade about Guatemala’s general elections – where a candidate promising reform has surprisingly made the second round of the presidential race – and the prospects for democratic change and opening up civic space.
Featured

SIERRA LEONE: ‘Civil society plays a crucial role in ensuring free and fair elections’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about Sierra Leone’s 24 June general election with John Caulker, founder and executive director of Fambul Tok.
Featured

COP28: ‘We are worried that the host country, the United Arab Emirates, restricts civil society’

Interviews
CIVICUS discusses the hopes and roles of civil society at the forthcoming COP28 climate summit with Gideon Abraham Sanago, Climate Coordinator with the Pastoralists Indigenous Non-Governmental Organizations’ Forum (PINGOs Forum).
Featured

COP28: ‘Political momentum should translate into adequately funded collective action’

Interviews
CIVICUS discusses the hopes and roles of civil society at the forthcoming COP28 climate summit with Caroline Owashaba, an eco-feminist and gender inclusion specialist and Executive Director of Action for Youth Development Uganda (ACOYDE).

UNITED STATES: ‘Every country should do their part to welcome people in need’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about new US immigration regulations with Aaron Nodjomian-Escajeda, policy analyst on asylum and human trafficking at the U.
Featured

LITHUANIA: ‘Civil society must humanise the public narrative around irregular migration’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about a new law enabling pushbacks of asylum seekers at the Belarus-Lithuania border with Mėta Adutavičiūtė, head of Advocacy at the Human Rights Monitoring Institute (HRMI).
Featured

SRI LANKA: ‘We’ve held Pride celebrations since 2004; we’re very proud of what we have achieved’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about the status of LGBTQI+ rights and progress being made towards decriminalising homosexuality in Sri Lanka with Rosanna Flamer-Caldera, founder and Executive Director of EQUAL GROUND.
Featured

NORTHERN CYPRUS: ‘Civil society is not involved in decision-making and is considered a nuisance’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Derya Beyatlı, Director of the Human Rights Platform, about the space for civil society in Northern Cyprus and the prospects for reunification in the context of the 2023 Cyprus and Turkish presidential elections.
Featured

UN CYBERCRIME TREATY: ‘Civil society is fact-checking the arguments made by states’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Ian Tennant about the importance of safeguarding human rights in the ongoing process to draft a United Nations (UN) Cybercrime Treaty.
Featured

UGANDA: ‘Shrinking civic space means affected communities are not able to make their voices count’

Interviews
CIVICUS discusses the hopes and roles of civil society at the forthcoming COP28 climate summit with Ireen Twongirwe, a climate activist and CEO of Women for Green Economy Movement Uganda (WoGEM).
Featured

THAILAND: ‘People understood election monitoring was important to ensure checks and balances’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about the 14 May election in Thailand with Yingcheep Atchanont, executive director of Internet Law Reform Dialogue (iLaw).
Featured

UN CYBERCRIME TREATY: ‘This is not about protecting states but about protecting people’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Stéphane Duguin about the weaponisation of technology and progress being made towards a United Nations (UN) Cybercrime Treaty.
Featured

CAMEROON: ‘Communities must benefit from what comes from their land’

Interviews
CIVICUS discusses the aspirations and roles of civil society at the forthcoming COP28 climate summit with Estelle Ewoule Lobé, co-founder of the Cameroonian civil society organisation (CSO) Action for the protection of environmental refugees and internally displaced people in Africa (APADIME).
Featured

ASEAN: ‘There is a lack of a consistent approach and political will to address the Myanmar crisis’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Mary Aileen Diez-Bacalso, a globally recognised human rights advocate and the new Executive Director of the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), on the state of civic space in the member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the regional body’s response to the human rights situation in Myanmar.

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