CIVICUS makes UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR) submissions on civil society space in Thailand, Tanzania, Papua New Guinea, and collaborated on a joint submission on Tajikistan.
The United Nations Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review is a unique process that reviews the human rights records of all 193 UN Member States every 4.5 years.
CIVICUS and its partners have submitted UN Universal Periodic Review submissions on four countries Thailand, Tanzania, Papua New Guinea and Tajikistan, in advance of the 53rd UPR session, scheduled to take place in November 2026, as part of the 4th UPR cycle. The submissions evaluate the state of civil society in each country, with a focus on the promotion and protection of the rights to freedom of association, peaceful assembly, and expression (including media freedom), as well as the broader environment for human rights defenders (HRDs). Each submission includes an assessment of how the respective State has implemented civic space-related recommendations received during the 3rd UPR cycle, which concluded over four years ago. In addition, the submissions offer a series of concrete follow-up recommendations to strengthen civic space and ensure alignment with international human rights obligations.
Thailand – CIVICUS, Asia Democracy Network (ADN) and the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) assess the Government of Thailand’s compliance with its international human rights obligations to ensure a safe and enabling environment for civil society. The submission focuses on the rights to freedoms of association, expression (including media freedom) and peaceful assembly, and unwarranted restrictions on HRDs. During the 3rd UPR cycle, Thailand received 50 civic space-related recommendations, accepted 28 and noted 22, but has only partially implemented one. The submission raises concerns regarding criminalisation of HRDs under the lèse-majesté law and sedition provisions, which have been used to arrest, detain, prosecute and imprison activists, journalists, opposition figures, including students and minors. Serious threats to freedom of association are posed by the 2024 Draft Act on Associations and Foundations, which regulates civil society organisations (CSOs) and builds on a series of earlier legislative attempts to restrict civil society activity. Cases of transnational repression have also been documented, involving the forced return of refugees and foreign activists to countries where they face severe persecution. Civic space in Thailand is rated as ‘repressed’ by the CIVICUS Monitor.
Tanzania – CIVICUS, the Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition (THRDC), East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project (DefendDefenders) and the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) assess the Government of Tanzania’s compliance with its international human rights obligations to ensure a safe and enabling environment for civil society. The submission focuses on the rights to freedoms of association, expression (including media freedom) and peaceful assembly, and unwarranted restrictions on HRDs. During the 3rd UPR cycle, Tanzania received 31 recommendations related to civic space, accepted 19, partially accepted 10 and noted 2, but has only partially implemented 10. The submission raises concerns about the systematic suppression of opposition parties and their members, including the mass deregistration of around 10,000 CSOs and the disqualification of the main opposition party CHADEMA from the 2025 general election. Authorities have continued to harass, intimidate and arbitrarily arrest, detain and prosecute HRDs including activists and journalists, notably by using the Cybercrimes Act and the Media Services Act. Post-election protests in October and November 2025 were violently repressed, with credible reports documenting the killing of hundreds of people and the prosecution of over 700 individuals on treason charges. Restrictions on online expression, including the blocking of social media platforms and the shutdown of tens of thousands of websites, further undermine freedom of expression. Civic space in Tanzania is rated as ‘repressed’ by the CIVICUS Monitor.
Papua New Guinea – CIVICUS, the Pacific Island Association of Non-Government Organisations (PIANGO) and Transparency International Papua New Guinea (TIPNG) assess the Government of Papua New Guinea’s compliance with its international human rights obligations to ensure a safe and enabling environment for civil society. The submission focuses on the rights to freedom of association, expression (including media freedom) and peaceful assembly, and unwarranted restrictions on HRDs. During the 3rd UPR cycle, Papua New Guinea received 4 recommendations related to civic space, all of which it supported, but has only partially implemented them. The submission raises concerns about the use of the Cybercrime Act to silence critics, activists and journalists through broadly defined online defamation offences carrying penalties of up to 25 years' imprisonment. A National Media Policy introduced in 2025 and a National Social Media Policy raise further concerns about government control over media and online expression. Papua New Guinea has failed to enact right to information legislation despite longstanding constitutional guarantees. HRDs face harassment, dismissal and strategic lawsuits, while the government has yet to establish a national human rights institution despite repeated UPR recommendations to do so since 2011. Blocking of protests and unresolved accountability for the unlawful killing of protesters have also been documented. Civic space in Papua New Guinea is rated as ‘obstructed’ by the CIVICUS Monitor.
Tajikistan – CIVICUS joined its partners’ submission, the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (HFHR) and the International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR), assessing the Government of Tajikistan’s compliance with its international human rights obligations to ensure a safe and enabling environment for civil society. The submission focuses on the rights to freedom of expression (including media freedom), association and peaceful assembly, and restrictions against HRDs. During the 3rd UPR cycle, Tajikistan received more than 80 recommendations related to civic freedoms but has failed to implement most of them. The submission raises serious concerns about the systematic use of broadly worded criminal provisions on extremism, treason and incitement to prosecute HRDs, journalists and lawyers, with Tajikistan ranking among the countries with the highest number of imprisoned journalists globally. Civic space has significantly deteriorated following the violent crackdown on protests in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO) in 2021–2022, which left at least 40 people dead and jailing over 200 residents in closed and unfair trials that includes the victims of the transnational repressions. The security service harassment continues to undermine freedom of association, while peaceful assembly remains severely curtailed in law and in practice. Civic space in Tajikistan is rated as ‘closed’ by the CIVICUS Monitor.
