Georgia’s Dangerous Anti-LGBTQI+ Law

Georgia’s ruling party has put LGBTQI+ people firmly in the firing line ahead of next month’s election. On 17 September, parliament gave final approval to a highly discriminatory law that empowers the authorities to censor books and films with LGBTQI+ content, stop discussion of LGBTQI+ issues in schools, ban people from flying rainbow flags and prevent Pride events. The law excludes LGBTQI+ people from adopting children, bans gender affirmation surgery and refuses to recognise same-sex marriages of Georgians conducted abroad.

Latest troubling development

Georgia’s anti-LGBTQI+ law breaches a wide range of international human rights commitments. And it’s a repeat offence: in May, a bill became law designating civil society and media groups that receive at least 20 per cent of funding from international sources as ‘pursuing the interests of a foreign power’. The ‘foreign agents’ law will enable vilification, fuel public suspicion and tie organisations up in lengthy compliance procedures.

President Salome Zourabichvili, who is independent of the ruling Georgian Dream party, vetoed the foreign agents bill, calling it a ‘Russian law’, also the view of the mass protest movement that rose up to oppose it. But presidential powers are weak, and parliament quickly reversed the veto. Zourabichvili – Georgia’s last directly elected president, with future presidents to be picked by parliament after her term ends in October – has also pledged to veto the anti-LGBTQI+ law. But a similar parliamentary override seems certain.

A UN 2.0 Needs Robust People’s Civil Society Participation

A cascade of crises endangers our world. Wars conducted without rules, governance devoid of democratic principles, surge in discrimination against women and excluded groups, accelerating climate change, greed-induced environmental degradation and unconscionable economic deprivation in an age of excess are threatening to roll back decades of human progress made by the international community.

This September’s UN Summit of the Future presents a rare opportunity to address these challenges through greater participation in UN decision making. World leaders are convening later this month in New York to agree a Pact for the Future, expected to lay the blueprint for international cooperation in the 21st century.

But civil society’s efforts to ensure an outcome document fit for today’s needs are coming up against diplomatic posturing between powerful states intent on preserving the status quo.

Read on Inter Press Service News 

New Zealand: Māori Rights in the Firing Line

A New Zealand bill that would roll back Indigenous rights is unlikely to pass – but it’s emblematic of a growing climate of hostility from governing politicians. A recent survey shows that almost half of New Zealanders believe racial tensions have worsened under the right-wing government in power since December 2023.

The Treaty Principles Bill reinterprets the principles of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi. New Zealand’s founding text, this agreement between the British government and Indigenous Māori chiefs established British governorship over the islands in return for recognition of Māori ownership of land and other property.

The treaty was controversial from the start: its English and Māori versions differ in crucial clauses on sovereignty. Māori people lost much of their land, suffering the same marginalisation as Indigenous people in other places settled by Europeans. As a result, Māori people live with higher levels of poverty, unemployment and crime, and lower education and health standards, than the rest of the population.

From the 1950s, Māori people began to organise and demand their treaty rights. This led to the 1975 Treaty of Waitangi Act, which defined a set of principles derived from the treaty and established the Waitangi Tribunal to determine breaches of the principles and recommend remedies.

In recent years, right-wing politicians have criticised the tribunal, claiming it’s overstepping its mandate – most recently because it held a hearing that concluded the bill breaches treaty principles.

Read on Inter Press Service News 

Rwanda: Authoritarian Leader Secures Another Term

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

No one can pretend to be surprised. Paul Kagame, president of Rwanda since 2000, has just won a fourth elected term in office. And as usual, it was a walkover, with a vote of the kind rarely seen since the era of Soviet pseudo-elections. Provisional results – subject to final confirmation – show that Kagame won 99 per cent of the vote on a 98 per cent turnout. The two token opponents allowed to appear on the ballot shared the remaining one per cent. Kagame's Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) party is also likely to continue to dominate parliament.

It was the same at the last election in 2017, when Kagame took 98.79 per cent of the vote. Kagame could be president until at least 2034, having reworked the constitution  in his favour in 2015.

There's no doubt Kagame is popular with many Rwandans, who credit him with bringing peace and restoring pride to the shattered county in the aftermath of the devastating 1994 genocide. Kagame has many supporters among western leaders, who point to the country's progress on economic development and women's equality, with Rwanda consistently top of the global rankings  for women's representation in parliament.

But there's one big problem: Kagame is an authoritarian leader whose power is made possible by the ruthless suppression of criticism. Independent civil society and media aren't tolerated. An election held on a highly uneven playing field and in a climate of fear and intimidation can't possibly be a fair contest. It's impossible to know what level of support opposition candidates might have if they were truly free to put their case to the public, and if Rwandans were fully able to express their views, advocate for alternatives to government policies and ask difficult questions of those in power – all hallmarks of a competitive democracy.

Read on All Africa

Venezuela Struggles to Hold on to Hope

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

There was an unusual sense of hope going into Venezuela’s 28 July presidential election. Democracy seemed on the horizon. María Corina Machado, the opposition’s rallying figure, had inspired a rare level of enthusiasm, promising millions of exiles they’d soon be able to return to a new Venezuela.

It seemed voting could bring change. And in a way, it did: the election proved the opposition could win despite an incredibly skewed playing field. But President Nicolás Maduro, in office since 2013, quickly declared himself the winner despite all evidence to the contrary, unleashing repression on the many who took to the streets in protest.

Read on Inter Press Service News 

Cambodia’s Young Environmental Activists Pay a Heavy Price

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. Ten young activists from the Mother Nature environmental group have recently been given long jail sentences. Two were sentenced to eight years on charges of plotting and insulting the king. Another seven were sentenced to six years for plotting, while one, a Spanish national banned from entering Cambodia, was sentenced in absentia.

Four of the activists were then violently dragged away from a peaceful sit-in they’d joined outside the court building. The five who’ve so far been jailed have been split up and sent to separate prisons, some far away from their families.

This is the latest in a long line of attacks on Mother Nature activists. The group is being punished for its work to try to protect natural resources, prevent water pollution and stop illegal logging and sand mining.

Read on Inter Press Service News

Eswatini: Jailing of Politicians the Latest Act of Repression

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. Their crime? Calling for democracy.

Mthandeni Dube and Bacede Mabuza, both members of parliament (MP) at the time, were arrested in July 2021 for taking part in a wave of pro-democracy protests that swept the southern African country. A third MP, Mduduzi Simelane, remains subject to an arrest warrant after going into hiding.

Dube and Mabuza have been detained since their arrest, and have reportedly been physically assaulted, denied medical treatment and prevented from seeing their lawyers while in custody. Last year they were found guilty on charges including murder, sedition and terrorism. Now they know their fate: Mabuza has been sentenced to 25 years and Dube to 18. Since the sentencing, Mabuza, who has a medical condition that needs a special diet, has reportedly been denied food in prison.

Dube and Mabuza are political prisoners. They had no hope of a fair trial, and their criminal convictions had no basis in reality. Eswatini’s criminal justice system does the bidding of the country’s dictator and Africa’s last absolute monarch, King Mswati III. For almost four decades, Mswati has ruled his kingdom with an iron fist. Mswati is constitutionally above the law, appoints the prime minister and cabinet and can veto all legislation. He also appoints and controls judges, who are routinely deployed to criminalise those who challenge his power.

Dube and Mabuza plan to appeal but know the odds are stacked against them.

Read on Inter Press Service News 

The UK’s Chance for Change

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

The political tide has turned in the UK – and civil society will be hoping for an end to government hostility.

The 4 July general election ended 14 years of rule by the right-wing Conservative party. The centre-left Labour party has returned to power, winning 411 out of 650 parliamentary seats.

Behind the headlines, however, there’s little reason to think the UK’s spell of political volatility is over, and the impacts of the deeply polarising 2016 Brexit referendum continue to ripple through politics.

Keir Starmer has become prime minister as a result of the UK’s most disproportionate election ever. The country’s archaic electoral system means his party won around 63 per cent of seats on just 34 per cent of the vote, up only around 1.5 per cent on its 2019 share and less than when it came second in 2017.

Read on Inter Press Service News 

HLPF 2024: Protecting Civic Space Critical for SDGs Success

Each year the international community comes together at the UN’s headquarters in New York to take stock of progress on sustainable development. This year’s High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) is being held between 8 and 18 July. Representatives from 36 countries, as per the UN HLPF website, will showcase their achievements on commitments outlined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, presenting their Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs).

This year’s HLPF convenes amid sobering times, underscored by findings from the recent UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2024 report. The report highlights growing inequalities, an escalating climate crisis, accelerating biodiversity loss and disappointing progress towards gender equality. These challenges are compounded by conflicts in GazaSudanUkraine and beyond, resulting in close to 120 million people being forcibly displaced worldwide. Alarmingly, only 17 per cent of SDG targets are on track, with around half making minimal or moderate progress, and progress on over a third having stalled or regressed.

Read on Inter Press Service News

 

Namibia: LGBTQI+ Rights Victory amid Regression

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

In June, the Namibian High Court struck down two sections of the country’s Sexual Offences Act that criminalised consensual sexual relations between men, finding them unconstitutional. While hardly anyone has been convicted for decades, the fact that their relationships were criminalised forced gay men to live in fear, perpetuated stigma and denied them recognition as rights holders, enabling discrimination, harassment and abuse.

In decriminalising same-sex relations, Namibia follows in the footsteps of Mauritius, which did so in 2023. In both countries, the criminalisation of consensual same-sex relations dated back to colonial times. Colonial overlords imposed these criminal provisions and countries typically retained them at independence, long after the UK had changed its laws.

Namibia gained independence from South Africa in 1990 but retained the criminal provisions South Africa inherited from the UK. South Africa then decriminalised male same-sex conduct in 1994 – sex between women was never criminalised – and recognised same-sex marriage in 2006. But Namibia hadn’t followed the same path – until now.

Read on Inter Press Service News

Myanmar: International Action Urgently Needed

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

Myanmar’s army, at war with pro-democracy forces and ethnic militias, must know it’s nowhere near victory. It recently came close to losing control of Myawaddy, one of the country’s biggest cities, at a key location on the border with Thailand. Many areas are outside its control.

The army surely expected an easier ride when it ousted the elected government in a coup on 1 February 2021. It had ruled Myanmar for decades before democracy returned in 2015. But many democracy supporters took up arms, and in several parts of the country they’ve allied with militia groups from Myanmar’s ethnic minorities, with a long history of resisting military oppression.

Read on Inter Press Service News

Thailand’s LGBTQI+ Rights Breakthrough

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

At the height of 2024 Pride season, decades of civil society campaigning came to fruition in Thailand. With 130 votes for and only four against, on 18 June the Senate passed the Marriage Equality Bill. With a few strokes of the pen, the bill tweaked the language of the Civil and Commercial Code, replacing gendered references such as ‘man’ and ‘woman’ with gender-neutral ones such as ‘persons’ and ‘spouses’. It now goes for formal assent to King Maha Vajiralongkorn and will take effect 120 days after publication in the official bulletin.

This means equal marriage is now recognised in 37 countries. Recent progress has seen Estonia become the first post-Soviet state to join the ranks in 2023, and Greece the first majority-Orthodox Christian country to do so in early 2024. Thailand is the first country in Southeast Asia and the third in Asia, following Taiwan and Nepal, to recognise the right to marry and all associated rights for same-sex couples.

Read on InterPress Service News

New Caledonia: Time to Talk about Decolonisation

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

The violence that rocked New Caledonia last month has subsided. French President Emmanuel Macron has recently announced the suspension of changes to voting rights in the Pacific island nation, annexed by his country in 1853. His attempt to introduce these changes sparked weeks of violence.

Colonial legacies

Scattered around the world are 13 territories once part of the French Empire that haven’t achieved independence. Their status varies. Some, such as Guadeloupe and Martinique, have the same legal standing as French mainland regions. Others have more autonomy. New Caledonia is in a category of its own: since the 1998 Nouméa Accord, named after New Caledonia’s capital, France agreed to a gradual transfer of power. Currently, France determines New Caledonia’s defence, economic, electoral, foreign and migration policies.

The Accord came in response to a rising independence movement led by Kanak people, the country’s Indigenous inhabitants. Kanaks make up around 40 per cent of the population, with the rest being people of European descent and smaller groups of Asian, Oceanian and mixed heritage. Kanaks experienced severe discrimination under French colonial rule, and for a period were confined to reservations.

An independence movement formed after a fresh wave of Europeans arrived in the 1970s to work in the nickel-mining industry. New Caledonia is the world’s fourth-largest producer of nickel, a key ingredient in stainless steel and, increasingly, electric vehicle batteries. The nickel boom highlighted the divide in economic opportunities. Unrest lead to worsening violence and, eventually, the Nouméa Accord.

A downturn in the industry has deepened economic strife, exacerbating the poverty, inequality and unemployment many Kanaks experience. Today, around a third of Kanaks live in poverty compared to nine per cent of non-Kanaks.

Read on InterPress Service News

 

Haiti: Transitional Administration Faces Stern Test

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

There’s been recent change in violence-torn Haiti – but whether much-needed progress results remains to be seen.Acting prime minister Garry Conille was sworn in on 3 June. A former UN official who briefly served as prime minister over a decade ago, Conille was the compromise choice of the Transitional Presidential Council. The Council formed in April to temporarily assume the functions of the presidency following the resignation of de facto leader Ariel Henry.

Read on Inter Press Service News

Venezuela’s Opportunity for Democracy

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

Venezuela’s 28 July presidential election could offer a genuine chance of democratic transition. Despite an array of challenges, the opposition is coming into the campaign unified behind a single candidate. Many Venezuelans seem prepared to believe that voting could deliver change.

But the authoritarian government is digging in its heels. The opposition reasonably fears the election could be suspended or the government could suppress the opposition vote. Large-scale fraud can’t be ruled out.

Read on Inter Press Service News 

India’s Election: Cracks Start to Show in Authoritarian Rule

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

India’s Hindu nationalist strongman Narendra Modi has won his third prime ministerial term. But the result of the country’s April-to-June election fell short of the sweeping triumph that seemed within his grasp.

Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has shed seats compared to the 2019 election, losing its parliamentary majority. Modi remains prime minister thanks to coalition partners. It’s a long way from the 400-seat supermajority Modi proclaimed he wanted – which would have given him power to rewrite the constitution.

The outcome may be that Modi faces more checks on his power. If so, that can only be good news for those he’s consistently attacked – including civil society and India’s Muslim minority.

Read on Inter Press Service News

Panama’s Elections: Has Impunity Prevailed?

By Ines Pousadela

Regional experts called it Panama’s most important election since the 1989 US invasion that deposed de facto president General Manuel Noriega. Panamanians went to the polls amid high inflation and unemployment, with a stagnating economy. Endemic corruption was also high on their long list of concerns, along with access to water, education and a collapsing social security system.

The winner, conservative lawyer José Raúl Mulino, was a stand-in for former president Ricardo Martinelli, disqualified from running due to a money laundering conviction. Martinelli remains popular regardless and managed to transfer his popularity to his less charismatic substitute. For those who backed Mulino, nostalgia for the economic stability and growth that marked Martinelli’s pro-business administration seemed to outweigh his proven record of corruption.

On the face of it, the election results seemed to demonstrate the primacy of economic considerations in voters’ minds, with hopes for growth trumping corruption fatigue. But that’s not the whole story.

Read on Inter Press Service News 

Solomon Islands: A Change More in Style than Substance

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

There’s change at the top in Solomon Islands – but civil society will be watching closely to see whether that means a government that’s grown hostile will start doing things differently.

Jeremiah Manele is the new prime minister, emerging from negotiations that followed April’s general election. He’s part of OUR Party, led by outgoing four-time prime minister Manasseh Sogavare. The party came first, winning 15 of 50 constituencies, but several incumbents who stood for it lost their parliamentary seats, and Sogavare only narrowly held his. Weakened, Sogavare stood aside to allow Manele to prevail as the consensus candidate of the post-election coalition his party stitched together.

Voters had to wait to have their say. The election was supposed to be held in 2023 but the government postponed it. It claimed it couldn’t afford to hold the election and host the Pacific Games in the same year, and temporarily suspended constitutional provisions through a parliamentary vote. The opposition accused Sogavare of a power grab and questioned his commitment to democracy.

Read on Inter Pres Service News

EU’S ‘Foreign agent law’ is misguided

By Tara Petrovic, leads research on Europe and Central Asia for the CIVICUS Monitor. 
 
The proposed EU directive is a threat to civil society and the media, both inside and outside the EU’s borders.
 

Civil Society Scores LGBTQI+ Rights Victory in Dominica

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

On 22 April, Dominica’s High Court struck down two sections of the country’s Sexual Offences Act that criminalised consensual same-sex relations, finding them unconstitutional. This made Dominica the sixth country in the Commonwealth Caribbean – and the fourth in the Eastern Caribbean – to decriminalise same-sex relations through the courts, and the first in 2024.

Similar decisions were made in Antigua and Barbuda, St Kitts and Nevis and Barbados in 2022 – but progress then threatened to stall. Change in Dominica revives the hopes of LGBTQI+ activists in the five remaining English-speaking Caribbean states – Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines – that still criminalise same-sex relations. Sooner than later, one of will be next. A small island has made a big difference.

Read on Inter Press Service News

South Africa’s post-apartheid democracy is sustained by protest

By Safia Khan and Tarryn Booysen 

On April 27, South Africa marks the 30th anniversary of the end of apartheid, when we, South Africans, finally won the fight for all to be recognised as equal citizens. We will hold a national election just a month later, on May 29.

Every election in South Africa is a chance for us to remind ourselves that our country belongs to all those who live in it. But this year’s vote has special meaning.

It will be a chance to reflect on what we have learned as a nation through our many successes and failures over the last three decades.

Ironically, perhaps the most important lesson to reflect on is that elections, though important, are just one part of a functioning democracy. Indeed, over the last 30 years, we have learned that in a democratic society, real results depend on people holding their leaders accountable through protest and community organising, not by voting alone.

Read on Al Jazeera

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The Climate Alarm Is Ringing – It’s Time to Stop Silencing It

By Andrew Firmin

The heat records keep tumbling – 2023 was the hottest year in recorded history. Extreme weather events keep mounting up. And yet the voices most strongly calling for action to prevent climate catastrophe are increasingly being silenced.

It’s a sad fact that climate campaigners in the global south – in many countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America – have long faced repression. People have been subjected to incarceration and violence all the way up to murder for resisting climate-harming extractive projects and environmental destruction. In comparison, climate activists in global north countries – including Europe and North America – for a long time enjoyed relative freedom, which they used to protest against their governments and the corporations headquartered in their countries that bear most of the responsibility for causing global warming.

Read on Inter Press Service

Senegal’s Democracy Passes Crucial Test

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

The fact that Senegal’s election took place on 24 March was in itself a triumph for civil society. That an opposition candidate, campaigning on an anti-establishment and anti-corruption agenda, emerged from jail to become the continent’s youngest leader offered fresh hope for democracy.

It wasn’t foretold. On 3 February, just as the campaign for the election scheduled for 25 February was to start, President Macky Sall announced he’d postponed the vote. Two days later, in a chaotic session during which security forces forced out opposition lawmakers who tried to block proceedings, parliament voted to postpone the presidential election until 15 December. Civil society saw this as a constitutional coup, since only Senegal’s Constitutional Council has the authority to postpone an election.

Read on Inter Press Service

Fixing the rules-based order: Start with the UN

By Mandeep Tiwana, Chief Officer - Evidence and Engagement at CIVICUS

U.S. President Joe Biden, in his rousing State of the Union speech last week, warned that Vladimir Putin’s Russia is on the march, “invading Europe and sowing chaos throughout the world.” There’s no doubt that Russia is a rogue, nuclear-armed state which crushes dissent at home, exports war abroad, and endangers what the United States and its allies call the “rules-based international order.”

But many people around the world — especially civil society activists from the Global South — are not just concerned about Putin’s threats to the rules-based order. We also worry about Biden’s commitment to it. As Israel’s death toll tops 30,000 in Gaza with Washington’s material support and diplomatic cover, many of us shake our heads at Biden’s moral dualism on international norms.

Read on Responsible Statecraft

Gender Rights: Resistance Against Regression

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

Global progress on gender rights has slowed almost to a halt. After decades of steady progress, demands for the rights of women and LGBTQI+ people now play out on bitterly contested territory. Over the course of several decades, global movements for rights won profound changes in consciences, customs and institutions. They elevated over half of humanity, excluded for centuries, to the status of holders of rights.

The reaction is intense. Gains for feminist and LGBTQI+ movements have brought severe backlash. In the last year, this has been apparent all over the world, from Russia’s crackdown on LGBTQI+ activism, to new extreme anti-gay laws in Ghana and Uganda, to anti-trans hysteria in the USA, to the Taliban’s imposition of gender apartheid in Afghanistan and the ruling theocracy reasserting itself in Iran.

Read on Inter Press News

The criminalisation of climate activists must stop now

Andrew Firmin is the co-author of the State of Civil Society report and Editor-in-Chief at CIVICUS, where he leads research into climate activism around the world.

2024: A Big Year for Women and Democracy

By Lysa John, Secretary General of CIVICUS 

The year 2024 is a bumper election year. Women voters will have a huge say in how global democracy fares. In India, all eyes are on the national elections which will be held in the first half of the year. Three other major democracies, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States, join India as the big ones deciding their fates this year. Asian neighbours Bangladesh, Indonesia and Pakistan concluded elections earlier this year, but with serious questions looming big on both processes and results. The outcomes have raised fundamental questions on the progress of human rights and civic freedoms.

Read on The Wire 

International Women’s Day, 2024 Progress Hinges on Feminist Leadership

By Lysa John, Secretary General of CIVICUS

Investing in inclusion requires more than electing and initiating women leaders. It requires a coordinated effort to change mindsets and systematically increase investments. This will allow feminist leaders, individually and collectively, to fully exercise their agency and counter targeted attacks on their safety and legitimacy.

A great deal of attention has been paid to the accomplishments of women in politics and society in recent years. Joan Carling, Francia Marquez, Maria Ressa, Amira Osman Hamed, and Narges Mohammadi have received global accolades for their vision and fearless activism.

Amid the pandemic, women leaders like Jacinda Ardern, Sanna Marin, Tsai Ing-Wen, and Angela Merkel outpaced their strongman counterparts by leading complex responses. During this period, the UN achieved gender parity in its senior leadership, including its national missions and peace operations, for the first time in history.

Read on Inter Press Service News 

Greece: Another First for LGBTQI+ Rights

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

After almost two decades of civil society campaigning, Greece’s parliament has passed a law enabling same-sex couples to marry and adopt children. It’s the first majority-Orthodox Christian country to realise marriage equality.

Equal marriage is now recognised in 36 countries, with Estonia last year becoming the first post-Soviet state to join the ranks. These notable firsts have however been accompanied by regression elsewhere, including in the country with the world’s biggest Orthodox Christian population, Russia.

Read on Inter Press Service News 

Russia: Moments of Dissent after Two Years of War

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

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine marked its second anniversary on 24 February. And while civil society is offering an immense voluntary effort in Ukraine, in Russia activists have faced intense constraints. The suspicious death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny is part of a great wave of repression. He’s the latest in a long list of people who’ve come to a sudden end after falling out with Vladmir Putin.

Putin is paying a backhanded compliment to the importance of civil society by suppressing it through every possible means. State-directed murder is the most extreme form of repression, but Putin has many more tricks up his sleeve. One is criminalisation of protests, seen when people showed up at improvised vigils to commemorate Navalny, laying flowers at informal memorials, knowing what would happen. Police arrested hundreds and the flowers quickly vanished.

Read on Inter Press Service News

Pakistan’s Election Outcomes Leave Many Unhappy

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

Pakistan’s 8 February election has resulted in an uneasy compromise that few wanted or expected. There’s little indication the outcome is going to reverse recent regression in civic freedoms.

Around 128 million people can vote in Pakistan, but it’s the army, the sixth-biggest in the world, that’s always had the upper hand. In recent decades, it’s preferred to exert its power by strongly influencing the civilian government rather than outright military rule. Prime ministers have allied with the military to win power and been forced out when disagreements set in. No prime minister has ever served a full term.

In April 2022, Prime Minister Imran Khan was ousted through a parliamentary vote of no-confidence. But it was common knowledge this was the military’s will. Khan, having cosied up to the generals to come to power in 2018, had publicly and vocally fallen out with them over economic and foreign policy. He had to go.

Read on Inter Press Service News 

Myanmar’s Military Catastrophe: Three Years and Counting

The military must have expected an easier ride. Three years ago, it ousted Myanmar’s democratically elected government. But the coup has been met with fierce resistance, unleashing a bloody conflict with no end in sight.

Civil society has scrambled to respond to humanitarian needs, defend human rights and seek a path to peace. Last year, civil society organisations in Myanmar and the region developed and endorsed a five-point agenda that calls for an international response to end military violence, including through sanctions, an arms embargo and a referral of Myanmar to the International Criminal Court – a call the UN Security Council hasn’t so far heeded.

Civil society is also demanding that the key regional body, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), takes the conflict more seriously and engages beyond the junta, particularly with democratic forces and civil society.

Read on Inter Press Service News 

Serbia’s Suspicious Election

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

Serbia’s December 2023 elections saw the ruling party retain power – but amid a great deal of controversy.

Civil society has cried foul about irregularities in the parliamentary election, but particularly the municipal election in the capital, Belgrade. In recent times Belgrade has been a hotbed of anti-government protests. That’s one of the reasons it’s suspicious that the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) came first in the city election.

Allegations are that the SNS had ruling party supporters from outside Belgrade temporarily register as city residents so they could cast votes. On election day, civil society observers documented large-scale movements of people into Belgrade, from regions where municipal elections weren’t being held and from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro. Civil society documented irregularities at 14 per cent of Belgrade voting stations. Many in civil society believe this made the crucial difference in stopping the opposition winning.

Read on: Inter Press Service News 

Guatemala’s Chance for a New Beginning

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

Guatemala’s new president, Bernardo Arévalo, was expected to be sworn in on 14 January at 2pm –the 14th at 14:00, as people repeated in anticipation for months. It was a momentous event – but it wasn’t guaranteed to happen.

One year earlier, Arévalo – co-founder of the progressive Movimiento Semilla (Seed Movement), a political party born out of widespread 2015 anti-corruption protests – was largely unknown, freshly selected as his party’s presidential candidate. He wasn’t on the radar of opinion polls. A long chain of unlikely events later, he’s become the first Guatemalan president in living memory who doesn’t belong to the self-serving elites who Guatemalans call ‘the corrupt pact’, which he has credibly promised to dismantle.

The fear this caused among corrupt elite that has long ruled Guatemala was reflected in a series of attempts to try to stop Arévalo’s inauguration. The huge and sustained citizen mobilisation that came in response can largely be credited with keeping alive the spark of democracy in Guatemala.

Read on Inter Press Service News

Iran, Back to the Grim Normal

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

Iran’s time of public rebellion has ended. The protesters marching, chanting, and dancing under the ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ banner have long stopped. And shifting regional dynamics may play to the regime’s favour. The wave of protest against the theocratic regime started on 16 September 2022 and lasted far longer than anyone could have predicted. But by the one-year mark it had all but died down, its unprecedented scale and reach superseded by the unparalleled brutality of the crackdown. The regime murdered hundreds of protesters, injured thousands and arrested tens of thousands. It subjected many to torture, sexual abuse and denial of medical treatment while in detention.

Read on: Inter Press Service News 

 

Bangladesh: Election with a Foregone Conclusion

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

Bangladesh just held an election. But it was far from an exercise in democracy.

Sheikh Hasina won her fourth consecutive term, and fifth overall, as prime minister in the general election held on 7 January. The result was never in doubt, with the main opposition party, the Bangladesh National Party (BNP), boycotting the vote over the ruling Awami League’s refusal to let a caretaker government oversee the election. This practice, abolished by the Awami League government in 2011, was, the BNP asserted, the only way to ensure a free and fair vote.

The BNP’s boycott was far from the only issue. A blatant campaign of pre-election intimidation saw government critics, activists and protesters subjected to threats, violence and arrests.

Read on  Inter Press Service News

Locally-led Development: Beyond Promises to Action

By Clara Bosco (CIVICUS), Anita Kattakuzhy (Movement for Community-Led Development (MCLD)) and Gunjan Veda (NEAR)

Over the last couple of years, we have seen an unprecedented number of commitments by funders and philanthropists to support locally-led development, increase direct funding to local actors and promote a more enabling environment for civil society. It has been six months since the Grand Bargain 3.0 commitments, one year since the adoption of the Donor Statement on Locally-Led Development, two years since United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator’s announced localisation targets and two and a half from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Development Assistance Committee (OECD DAC) Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society. Now seems an opportune time to reflect on how these commitments are being translated into action.

Read on Alliance Magazine

Sudan’s Conflict Needs Civil Society Solutions

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 recently been reported that the two main protagonists of Sudan’s current conflict – leaders of the armed forces and militia at war since April – have agreed to face-to-face talks. The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), an East African body, announced the potential breakthrough – although Sudan’s foreign ministry has since claimed IGAD’s statement is inaccurate, creating further uncertainty.

There’s no question that an end to the violence is urgently needed. The conflict has created a humanitarian and human rights crisis. But the two leaders involved, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Mohamad Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemeti, of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia, have provided ample evidence to doubt whether they’re really interested in peace, or in accountability for atrocities.

Read on Inter Press Service News

Latvia: A Vital First Step Towards Marriage Equality

 By Inés M. Pousadela is CIVICUS Senior Research Specialist, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.

Last month the Saeima, Latvia’s parliament, passed a package of eight laws recognising same-sex civil unions and associated rights. The new legislation came in response to a 2020 Constitutional Court ruling that established that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to the benefits and legal protections afforded to married opposite-sex couples.

Equal marriage rights are still a long way away, and civil unions are only a first step in the right direction. But in one of Europe’s most restrictive countries for LGBTQI+ rights, activists view it as a significant shift, achieved after numerous attempts over more than two decades. Anti-rights forces agree, and they’re not going to let it happen quietly. They’ve already responded with an attempt to stop the new law being adopted by campaigning for a referendum.

Read more on Inter Press Service News 

 

Netherlands Latest Country to Tilt to the Right

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

The Netherlands is the latest country to lurch to the right amid the global cost of living crisis. Its November election saw maverick far-right populist Geert Wilders and his Party for Freedom (PVV) come first. A hardline Islamophobe who’s called for the Quran to be banned could be the next prime minister.

Read more on Inter Press Service

 

 

Argentina Plunges into the Unknown

By Inés M. Pousadela is CIVICUS Senior Research Specialist, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.

For many of Argentina’s voters the choice on 19 November was between the lesser of two evils: Sergio Massa, the minister overseeing an economy with the world’s third-highest inflation rate, or Javier Milei, an erratic far-right libertarian outsider promising to shut down the Central Bank, adopt the US dollar as the currency, cut taxes and privatise public services.

Read on Inter Press Service News

Mauritius' court ruling shows southern Africa leads the way in LGBTQIA+ rights in Africa

By Sylvia Mbataru and Mawethu Nkosana

The Mauritius decision is part of a wider trend of Southern African courts protecting LGBTQIA+ rights following sustained strategic litigation and advocacy by activists and civil society organisations.

Read on News24

Gaza: Immediate ceasefire needed

Long-term solutions must also be advanced to respect human rights

By CIVICUS Staff

An immediate ceasefire is needed to stop the slaughter of civilians in Gaza and enable full humanitarian access to supply the essentials a besieged population needs and is currently being denied. The current crisis severely escalated with the Hamas attacks of 7 October – but it didn’t start there. Long-term solutions are needed to end decades-long practices of systemic exclusion and the denial of rights, informed by the voices of civil society. Meanwhile people in other countries should be free to protest in solidarity, to demand accountability for atrocities and call for an end to the killing.

Read full article on the CIVICUS Lens

UN's impact is hamstrung by scant civil society participation

Mandeep Tiwana, chief officer for evidence and engagement at CIVICUS and Lysa John, Secretary General of CIVICUS

Let’s not beat around the bush: this year’s United Nations General Assembly was a letdown. The annual September gathering produced very little to solve spreading wars, authoritarianism, nationalist populism, economic inequality, or worsening climate change. Nor did it accelerate progress on the Sustainable Development Goals.

From our view the problem is simple. UNGA doesn’t create enough space for civil society who work on behalf of the world’s underserved people. Instead, UNGA seems to heavily privilege state representation by government officials — many of whom cause the very crises the U.N. must solve and often treat UNGA merely as a platform for propaganda.

Read on Devex

Intergenerational Movement For Change: CIVICUS Uniting For A Just And Sustainable Future

By Secretary General, Lysa John and Chief Officer of Evidence and Engagement Mandeep Tiwana

Defending people power and striving to promote excluded voices — this is the mission of CIVICUS, a global alliance of civil society organizations and activists dedicated to strengthening citizen action and civil society throughout the world. With over 15,000 members in 188 countries, CIVICUS works together to monitor violations of fundamental civil liberties, name the perpetrators, and strengthen the power of people to organize by supporting an accountable, effective, and innovative civil society.

Read on Medium

 

The UN’s Own Relevance Is at Stake at This Year’s General Assembly

By Mandeep Tiwana, Chief Officer for evidence and engagement + representative to the UN headquarters at CIVICUS, the global civil society alliance

This September, world leaders and public policy advocates from around the world will descend on New York for the UN General Assembly. Alongside conversations on peace and security, global development and climate change, progress – or the lack of it – on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is expected to take centre-stage. A major SDG Summit will be held on 18 and 19 September. The UN hopes that it will serve as a ‘rallying cry to recharge momentum for world leaders to come together to reflect on where we stand and resolve to do more’. But are the world’s leaders in a mood to uphold the UN’s purpose, and can the UN’s leadership rise to the occasion by resolutely addressing destructive behaviours?

Read more on Inter Press Service News

Niger coup – military intervention by Ecowas could prove costly for human rights

By David Kode, CIVICUS' Advocacy and Campaigns Lead 

Mohamed Bazoum’s ascension to the presidency in 2021 in a rare political transition was a major boost for Niger’s democracy. Some welcome developments have come in the past two years, including the adoption of a law to protect human rights defenders and an amendment to a regressive cybercrimes law, but major human rights restrictions have remained.

Read on the Daily Maverick 

The Civic Space Crisis in Africa and How Civil Society Responds

Image David Kode Article

Introduction

The state of civic space globally and the environment for civil society continues to deteriorate. Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) and civil society activists hold governments accountable for their actions, and demand compliance with human rights commitments in line with international standards. However, they face huge risks, and their advocacy can have dire consequences. According to the CIVICUS Monitor, 28% of the world’s population, approximately two billion people, are subject to extreme levels of repression. 

The state of civic space in Africa mirrors that of the globe, as a vast majority of people also face significant restrictions in exercising their fundamental freedoms. While civic space restrictions tend to increase during politically-sensitive periods, including elections, protests, coups, emergencies and when constitutions are amended by states, HRDs and journalists, who report on human rights, corruption, conflict and health emergencies, are also susceptible to attacks.

Proliferation of Restrictive Legislation Used to Stifle Fundamental Freedoms

Despite the fact that a majority of African states are signatories to and/or have ratified key international and regional human rights frameworks, and have provisions in their constitutions that guarantee fundamental freedoms, many continue to promulgate laws that are at variance with their international human rights obligations. In passing these laws, many governments argue that they are aimed at responding to terrorist threats and disinformation, and protecting national security. However, they are mostly subjectively used to target human rights defenders, activists, media outlets and representatives of civil society who raise concerns about human rights issues, and report on themes considered sensitive. 

In Zimbabwe, for example, the recently passed Private Voluntary Organizations (PVO) Amendment Law to regulate PVOs, has provisions that threaten the very existence of civil society organizations (CSOs). The law empowers the authorities to designate a PVO as “high risk” or “vulnerable” to terrorism abuse. PVOs who are deemed to fall into this category can have their registration revoked by the authorities, or their leadership removed or replaced. The law also prevents PVOs from supporting or opposing any political party or candidate in presidential, parliamentary or local government elections. While the Zimbabwean authorities argue that the PVO is aimed at countering terrorism and other illicit crimes, the reality is that the timing of the passing of the law, just before presidential and parliamentary elections in 2023, and the history of targeting civil society by the government, indicates that it is aimed at preventing civil society from reporting on intimidation and violence.

Similarly, in Algeria, the authorities have used the restrictive Law on Associations to refuse to register associations, or revoke their registration. Provisions in the law empower the authorities to reject the registration of associations if they are deemed to have objectives that are contrary to national values, good morals or public order. The law has been used to criminalize members of associations, impose restrictions on its funders, and suspend the activities of associations.

Authorities have dissolved two prominent human rights groups, the Ligue Algérienne pour la Défense des Droits de l’Homme Rassemblement and Action Jeunesse (RAJ), and several media organizations, including Radio M and Maghreb Emergent, by using this law. Malawi, Angola and Mozambique have either drafted or promulgated similar laws in the recent past.

In the DRC, a Press Law and Digital Code promulgated in April 2023 empowers the authorities to prosecute and imprison journalists who are found guilty of spreading false news and sharing information electronically. The law states that the publication, dissemination or reproduction of false news is illegal if the information affects the morale of the army or hinders war efforts. According to the Digital Code, journalists found guilty of publishing false information could face six months in prison or a fine of 1 million CDF (approximately USD 419). Journalists could face two years in prison or a fine of 10 million CDF (approximately USD 4 190) for publishing information that, according to the authorities, seeks to coerce, intimidate, harass, provoke or encourage hate, or that affect good morals and patriotic values. 

The passing of the laws raised concerns among media rights organizations as they will be used to subjectively prosecute journalists and bloggers, given the history of freedom of expression in the DRC Journalists face restrictions when accused by authorities of insulting them, or for reporting on conflict. In April 2023, journalist Gustave Bakuka who works for the privately-owned broadcaster, Radio Mushauri, was arrested by agents of the Agence Nationale de Renseignements (ANR) – the national intelligence agency – and accused of spreading false information after he distributed a piece he wrote about security issues on WhatsApp.

Similarly in Niger, the 2019 Cyber Crimes Law criminalizes the production and dissemination of data that is likely to disrupt public order, or undermine human dignity through an information system. The Nigerien authorities used the law to monitor Facebook and WhatsApp discussions of certain individuals prior to the arrests of activists in 2020. On 9 September 2021, journalists Samira Sabou and Moussa Aksar were charged with defamation under the Cyber Crimes Law, after they shared a report authored by the Global Initiative Against Crime.

The Council of Ministers revised this law in April 2022. According to the amended version, defamation and insults through electronic information systems will not lead to custodial sentences but fines. The amended bill will not be presented to the National Assembly.

Intimidation of Members of Civil Society and Activists

According to the CIVICUS Monitor, intimidation was the most common civic space violation in Africa in 2022. State and non-state actors use intimidation to deter and discourage civil society representatives from raising concerns over issues affecting the state or individuals. It often occurs in different forms, including police summons for questioning, threats of persecution, house searches without warrants, break-ins, and raids on the homes and offices of HRDs, activists and journalists, and threats made online and offline. For example, in Sierra Leone on 7 February 2022, journalist and reporter Solomon Maada Joe was detained at a local police station in the city of Bo in the south of the country, after a business man accused him of threatening him over comments the journalist made during a weekly broadcast on Radio Bo KISS. 

Mozambican journalist, Armando Nenane, has been subjected to acts of intimidation and harassment on several occasions. In 2022, he was given a live bullet by two unidentified individuals who informed him they were under the directive of their superiors, after the journalist was found not guilty of defamation – a charge which had been brought against him by a former Defense Minister. In October 2021, he was physically assaulted by several police officers while reporting on an accident. He was asked to delete photos of the accident from his phone. He was taken to a local police station and later released without being charged. States use this strategy to prevent the publication of sensitive reports by civil society or journalists, to force activists to self-censor, and to deter others from reporting on human rights to avoid reprisals. 

Restrictions on Freedom of Assembly

As formal spaces for political participation continue to close in Africa, people are using protests as alternative ways to voice their opinion, express dissent and call for justice. Over the last few years, protests have been triggered by political, governance and economic issues including governments’ responses to increases in the prices of basic commodities, inflation and corruption. Some countries have seen protests against military juntas amidst calls for inclusive political transitions and democratic reforms. In most African countries where protests take place, the response of the state has been restrictive, with security forces using violence to disperse and deter protesters. Governments have also used policies and laws to pre-empt and prevent protests, making it difficult for people to mobilize, gather and demonstrate, while others have imposed blanket bans on protests. 

In Chad, for example, security forces have repeatedly used violence to disperse protesters demonstrating against an extension of the term in office of the military transitional council, led by President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno since 20 April 2021. On 20 October 2022, known as “Black Thursday”, more than 50 people were killed, 300 injured and more than 1 100 others arrested as protesters demonstrated against a decision by the transitional authorities to extend the military transition by two years. Hundreds of protesters were subjected to mass trials and jailed. The Chadian authorities continued to arrest members of the political opposition and civil society including the social movement, Wakit Tama, forcing many to flee the country. 

In Sudan, security forces use violence and rape to target women protesters. Following a military coup on 25 October 2021, more than 40 people were killed when protesters condemned the coup and called for a peaceful transition to civilian rule. Scores of protesters were forcefully removed, while hundreds were detained, with some subjected to physical assault.

In Eswatini, the authorities have employed several violent and restrictive strategies to prevent pro-democracy and anti-government protests that began in May 2021. As pro-democracy protests continue, many protesters have been killed. Those suspected of leading demonstrations, including school children, are subjected to physical assaults and imprisonment. The authorities use surveillance to target protesters and collect data on them to deny them access to government employment and services. Authorities have also imposed nationwide curfews and Internet blackouts to curtail protests. Pro-democracy activists have been brutally assassinated, with many others fleeing the country. 

Attacks on Journalists and Restrictions on Freedom of Expression

The targeting of journalists has featured prominently as part of the top five violations or civic space restrictions highlighted by the CIVICUS Monitor for five years running. Journalists continue to be targeted for reporting on corruption, elections, human rights and other issues considered sensitive by the authorities. Journalists have also been subjected to judicial persecution and physical attacks for reporting on protests.

In Somalia and Somaliland, journalists are frequently detained and subjected to intimidation and threats. On 5 July 2022, police officers detained reporter, Mohamed Abdirahin Mohamed of RTN Television. According to Mohamed, the detention was related to an interview he conducted with an opposition member of the Southwest State Assembly, who had recently protested, along with other opposition legislators, against the revocation of their immunity and membership of the assembly. Mohamed was warned against broadcasting the interview or criticizing President Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed. 

In Nigeria, journalists continue to be arrested and prosecuted, particularly for alleged cybercrimes and defamation. On 19 August 2022, Agba Jalingo, publisher of online news site, RiverCrossWatch, was detained by police officers in Ogudu, Lagos State, following a defamation and cyberattack complaint filed by the sister-in-law of the Governor of Lagos State. The arrest, reportedly in response to a Facebook post, came only five months after a High Court in Calabar dismissed all charges against Jalingo – terrorism, treasonable felony and cybercrimes – but not before he was imprisoned for 179 days following the publication of a report alleging the diversion of public funds by the Governor of Rivers State. 

In Ghana, the authorities have increasingly used ‘false news’ regulations under the Criminal Offences Act and the Electronic Communications Act to detain journalists. On 24 May 2022, for example, police briefly detained Noah Narh Dameh, who works for Radio Ada, in response to a petition by a company that was granted a controversial concession to mine salt, following a story on Facebook. He was later charged with publishing false news.

In the CAR, police arrested Christian Azoudaoua, editor of Le Charpentier newspaper, on 6 September 2022, reportedly on the orders of the deputy speaker of the National Assembly, following the publication of a report alleging the deputy speaker’s role in embezzlement. Azoudaoua was detained for several weeks.

In Malawi, journalist Gregory Gondwe was arrested in April 2022 following the publication of an article alleging corruption by the country’s Attorney-General. Gondwe was detained for six hours, with police pressuring him to reveal his sources, and his phone and laptop were confiscated.

How is Civil Society Pushing Back?

Despite the overwhelming restrictions listed above, civil society continues to brave the odds and push back against these actions by states. In many instances, they raise awareness at national and global level about violations by states. In some cases, states are forced to halt the restrictions while some of the responses from civil society lead to tangible change. Following decades of dictatorial rule in The Gambia, public mobilizations by the political opposition, civil society and activists defeated a climate of fear that had prevailed for decades, and contributed to the democratic transition Gambia experienced after the elections in 2016. From the “Calama” revolution, to the “Gambia has decided movements”, Gambians mobilized and voted out dictator Yahya Jammeh from power in December 2016. 

In 2020, Malawi set a new record in Africa as the only country on the continent where election results were overturned and later won by the political opposition. After a landmark ruling by the Constitutional Court citing widespread irregularities in the May 2019 elections, new elections organized in June 2020 were won by the opposition coalition, led by now President Lazarus Chakwera. The rulings by the Court demonstrated the kind of judicial independence not often seen on the continent. However, they were preceded and accompanied by mass mobilizations, protests and advocacy by CSOs across Malawi calling for a reorganization of elections, a reform of the electoral system and an end to human rights violations. 

Similar changes, instigated by people power in response to the high prices of basic commodities and unbearable levels of inflation in Sudan, led to a political transition (though beset with severe challenges) in 2019, and the ousting of another authoritarian leader. In many countries where civic space restrictions continue unabated, including Djibouti, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and South Sudan, HRDs, journalists and civil society groups continue to advocate fearlessly for human rights despite the threats they face. The CIVICUS “Stand As My Witness Campaign”, launched on Nelson Mandela Day in 2020, continues to advocate with governments to free HRDs, activists and journalists imprisoned for their human rights activities.

Which Way Forward?

We are likely to see an increase in protests and mobilizations across the continent in the next few years due to socio-economic challenges that are exacerbated by increased prices of basic commodities and the fact that elections do not lead to expected political transitions. It would be crucial for formal CSOs to build better connections with social movements, less formal actors, youth movements and ordinary citizens who are likely to lead these demonstrations for change.

It will also be vital for civil society groups across the continent to build transnational support systems that provide crucial assistance and support across borders, as some of these protests will be violently repressed. The African Union and regional economic communities will also need to be alert and act swiftly to ensure that states across the continent respect regional human rights mechanisms related to unconstitutional changes in power, elections and human rights. 

Originally published in African CSO Platform

Cloud Lingers over Sierra Leone’s Election

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

People went to the polls in Sierra Leone on 24 June to pick a president, parliament and municipal representatives. Results were quickly announced and the president sworn in for a second term. But a cloud of doubt lingers.

Runner-up cries foul

The presidential race offered a repeat of the previous vote in 2018, when Julius Madaa Bio beat Samura Kamara in a closely fought runoff, 51.8 per cent to 48.2 per cent. But despite the economy being in worse shape than five years ago – something that might be expected to cost the incumbent support – this time round Bio’s lead was bigger. He took 56.2 per cent to Kamara’s 41.2 per cent in the first round, narrowly clearing the 55 per cent threshold needed to avoid a runoff.

Kamara and his party, the All People’s Congress (APC), immediately cried foul and demanded a rerun, saying there were ‘glaring irregularities’. While observers from the African Union and Economic Community of West African States declared the elections free and fair, others expressed concerns. European Union observers pointed to ‘statistical inconsistencies’ in the presidential election results. These include very high turnout in some districts and a very low number of invalid votes. In addition, seals were reportedly broken on some ballot boxes before votes were counted.

National Election Watch, a coalition of over 400 domestic and international civil society organisations (CSOs), has also reported concerns. It deployed 6,000 observers, covering every polling station, and used a sampling technique to estimate the results – a method that closely matched the final tallies at the last three elections. But this time its results disagreed on all the key figures: levels of support for the two main candidates, turnout and the amount of invalid votes. Based on its analysis, neither candidate was expected to clear the 55 per cent hurdle.

For transparency, domestic and international observers are calling on the electoral commission to publish detailed results with data disaggregated by polling station. The commission has said it will do so but it will take some time.

Read on Inter Press Service News 

Guatemala Clings to Democratic Promise

by Inés M. Pousadela, CIVICUS Senior Research Specialist, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.

When Guatemalans went to the polls on 25 June, distrust and disillusionment were rife. First place in the presidential contest was claimed by none of the candidates: it went to invalid votes, at 17 per cent. Many didn’t bother, resulting in an abstention rate over 40 per cent.

But an unexpected development brought some hope: Bernardo Arévalo, leader of the progressive Movimiento Semilla, made it to the runoff.

Arévalo’s promise to fight against systemic corruption and bring back the numerous justice operators – people such as judges, prosecutors and public defenders – currently in exile to help clean up institutions is causing great concern for those who profit from the current state of affairs. The fact that Arévalo could become Guatemala’s next president has made the election results an instant object of contention.

Corruption and democratic decline

Guatemalan electoral processes aren’t pristine, but that isn’t where the most serious problems lie. Civic freedoms are steadily deteriorating and state institutions have been weakened by predatory elites and coopted by organised crime. Transparency International finds evidence of strong influence by organised criminals over politics and politicians, with some criminals themselves in office.

No wonder Guatemalans have a low level of confidence in state institutions. In the latest Latinobarómetro report, the church was by far the most trusted institution, winning the trust of 71 per cent of people, followed at some distance by the armed forces and police. But only nine per cent of people trust political parties, and trust is also very low in Congress, electoral bodies and the judiciary.

Read on Inter Press Service News 

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