CIVICUS Lens: 30 April 2026

APRIL 2026 HIGHLIGHTS

Welcome to the latest edition of the CIVICUS Lens newsletter, from CIVICUS, the global civil society alliance.

As democracy comes under pressure around the world, Hungary offers hope, with the defeat of Viktor Orbán giving the country an opportunity to rebuild institutions and protect rights. That’s one of the stories we’ve covered on CIVICUS Lens this month. Denmark unfortunately tells a different story, showing how established political parties can help normalise extremist anti-migrant ideas.

On the global level, our analysis of the United Nations NGO Committee exposes how repressive states have turned a body meant to bring civil society groups into multilateral spaces into a tool for excluding them. Civil society, meanwhile, is finding new routes to justice, with a case brought against the blood-soaked Myanmar junta by a Rohingya refugee in Indonesia advancing the principle that perpetrators of atrocities can be held accountable anywhere in the world.

In our interview series, we’re talking to people at the forefront of Gen Z-led protests to learn from their efforts to rewrite the rules of political engagement. Young leaders from Bulgaria, Indonesia, Kenya, Nepal and the Philippines show that activists refuse to wait for change.

For more analysis of civil society action, visit our website, and check out the latest civil society trends in our 2026 State of Civil Society Report.

If you have any feedback or think there’s something we should cover, contact us at . Please share this newsletter with your contacts and encourage them to subscribe. If you like what we’re doing, please join the resistance against autocracy and extremism by becoming a CIVICUS member. Thank you! 

ARTICLES

Péter Magyar’s Tisza Party won a two-thirds supermajority in Hungary’s 12 April parliamentary election, ending 16 years of Viktor Orbán’s rule. For the European Union, Hungary’s role as the bloc’s most disruptive member could be over and stalled conversations on institutional reform could be reopened. For Hungary’s civil society, the result could begin a period of recovering civic space, democratic freedoms and the rule of law. The result showed that autocratisation processes can be reversed, but dismantling the deep roots of Orbán’s system of control will be a long and difficult task. Civil society will be pressing the new government to reverse its predecessor’s anti-LGBTQI+ policies.

On 8 April, states on the United Nations (UN) Economic and Social Council elected 19 new members of the NGO Committee, the body that decides which civil society organisations receive the consultative status that gives them access to the UN system. The election was almost entirely uncontested, and 13 of the 19 elected states have closed or repressed civic space. The body that controls civil society’s access to the UN remains dominated by states determined to keep it out. Repressive states use tactics such as repeatedly demanding further information as a way of delaying decisions. Reform is long overdue.

Min Aung Hlaing, leader of Myanmar’s military coup turned president, stands accused of genocide against the country’s Rohingya minority in an Indonesian court case filed by a survivor. The complaint follows a change to Indonesia’s criminal code to recognise the principle of universal jurisdiction, which enables prosecutions of perpetrators of atrocities regardless of where they occurred. Cases have also been filed in Argentina and Timor-Leste, while the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant against Min Aung Hlaing. The Myanmar regime remains propped up by powerful international partners, but these efforts are increasingly challenging impunity. Indonesian authorities must treat this landmark case with the seriousness it demands.

In Denmark’s 24 March election, the Social Democrats got their worst result in over 120 years. Despite the party’s hardline immigration policy, which was supposed to limit the appeal of extremist parties, the far-right Danish People’s Party tripled its vote. Parliament is now fragmented, with neither right-wing nor left-wing groupings able to form a coalition government. Denmark’s normalisation of far-right positions on migration has produced an immigration regime that violates international human rights standards. Its experience has once again shown that far-right parties don’t need to win power to have a regressive influence on politics and societies.

More than four years into its war on Ukraine, Russia is increasingly recruiting soldiers from African countries to fill its depleted ranks. Some come willingly, influenced by extensive Russian propaganda and the promise of relatively high wages. Others are deceived into signing contracts in a language they don’t understand, given minimal training and sent to the frontlines. Hundreds of Africans have already been killed. While some African governments are speaking out, others remain silent, prioritising warm relations with Russia over the lives of their citizens. International partners must do more to address the economic conditions and hostile migration policies that make Russia seem an appealing destination.

INTERVIEWS