Opinions & Features

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Why are African countries undermining the rights bodies they created?

Opinions & Features
By David Kode, Advocacy & Campaigns Lead at CIVICUS The 68th Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) has just concluded.
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Labour activists and unions stepped up to defend workers during the pandemic

Opinions & Features
  By Josef Benedict, CIVICUS Monitor Across the globe every year, workers and trade unions gather together on 1 May which is Labour Day to commemorate the hard-fought struggle for labour rights and to make demands of their governments’ where they are failing to protect workers.
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Press freedom vital in the fight against the pandemic

Opinions & Features
Freelance journalist Hopewell Chin'ono.
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What Oscar-nominated film ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ tells us about protest rights

Opinions & Features
Source: Open Democracy By Susan Wilding, Head of CIVICUS' Geneva office The Trial of the Chicago 7’ is up for six Oscars at the Academy Awards, to be announced on 25 April.
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Chad elections: President Déby seeks a sixth term in a region for old men

Opinions & Features
President Idriss Déby of Chad has been in power since 1990.
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Five human rights trends in South Africa

Opinions & Features
Photo by Sharon Seretlo/Gallo Images via Getty Images By Mawethu Nkosana, LGBTQI+ Advocacy and Campaigns Lead at CIVICUS & Safia Khan, Innovation and Communications Officer at CIVICUS From the rise in student activism to the rise in levels of xenophobia in South Africa, Mawethu and Safia list five human rights trends since COVID-19 took over.
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We are tired, so we must take turns to rest: Women's advocacy during crisis

Opinions & Features
Source: Wikicommons By Masana Ndinga-Kanga, the Crisis Response Fund Lead and Advocacy Officer for the Middle East/North Africa region at CIVICUS In recognising how moments of crisis heighten already existing inequalities, it is worth reflecting on how women activists have been able to conduct advocacy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Intimidation, censorship and defamation in the virtual sphere

Opinions & Features
In Syria, hundreds of thousands of people have died since 2011.
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CIVICUS calls on social media platforms, govt to address 'hostile virtual environment for women'

Opinions & Features
Aarti Narsee, Civic Space Reseacher at CIVICUS spoke to JacarandaFM about the challenges faced by women human rights defenders, activists, feminists and journalists when online.
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Harassment goes virtual: Women activists and journalists speak out

Opinions & Features
  Women journalists, feminists, activists, and human rights defenders around the world are facing virtual harassment.

Building a diverse global team of activist for social transformation: Welcoming the CIVICUS Youth Action Team 2021-22

Opinions & Features
We at CIVICUS Youth are very thankful to the Youth Action Team (YAT) 2019-2020, a group of accomplished and inspiring young leaders from all over the world who work together for a year and a half to instill a more youth-friendly vision within CIVICUS and act as an inspiration for other organisations across the world to have youth at the center and make decisions that do not leave behind the power of 1.
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Is the USA fit to rejoin the UN Human Rights Council?

Opinions & Features
By Emily Standfield, CIVICUS Member and data volunteer A month into Joe Biden’s presidency, the U.
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The advocate championing citizen action and organizing to enable change

Opinions & Features
Champions of Change is an initiative started by the Pathfinders to highlight advocates who have made an impact in their communities and have helped to create peaceful, just and inclusive societies (SDG16+).

Strengthening young activists by tagging-in local mentors and standing back

Opinions & Features
By CIVICUS youth On the celebration of the International Youth month in August 2020, CIVICUS Youth launched a new mentorship format for the ten participants of the Youth Action Lab.
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Angola decriminalises homosexuality

Opinions & Features
Angola has officially decriminalised same-sex relationships and prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Deepening Roots: How our partners are doing nine months on

Opinions & Features
Photo: Projet Jeune Leader By Jack Cornforth, Resilient Roots Coordinator, CIVICUS Towards the end of 2020, we spoke to many of our national partners from the initial phase of the Resilient Roots initiative to find out how they are doing nine months after our financial and technical support for their pilot accountability projects ended (see them on our interactive map).
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Saudi activist, Loujain Al-Hathloul spends 1000+ days in prison: Masana Ndinga-Kanga

Opinions & Features
Prominent Saudi female activist, Loujain al-Hathloul, who campaigned for women's right to drive, was sentenced to more than five years in prison in December 2020, after having already spent two years in detention.
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Abortion Law | Mass protests across Poland

Opinions & Features
Protests against new abortion laws have erupted across Poland.
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Europeans’ right to protest under threat

Opinions & Features
By Aarti Narsee, Civic Space Researcher for Europe and Central Asia at CIVICUS The year 2020 tested democracy and civic freedoms in many ways.

Shaping post-pandemic politics

Opinions & Features
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted politics and power for years to come, pushing the boundaries of political systems, impacting or delaying election outcomes and fuelling popular movements.
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Another Republic Day, another mass protest and another year of repression?

Opinions & Features
By Mandeep Tiwana, Chief Programmes Officer at CIVICUS It’s an anathema that in the 21st century when humanity claims to have made great progress in cultural and technological spheres that we should still have prisoners of conscience.
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Imprisoned Saudi activist and other rights defenders seek justice in 2021

Opinions & Features
By Mandeep Tiwana, Chief Programmes Officer at CIVICUS Two events generated significant interest and global solidarity in the final days of December 2020.
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How to create a UN that listens

Opinions & Features
By Lysa John, Secretary-General of CIVICUS & Mandeep Tiwana, Chief Programmes Officer at CIVICUS The UN was conceived as a ground-breaking experiment in global cooperation and people-centred multilateralism.
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What is the Health of SDG Targets on Civic Freedoms after 2020?

Opinions & Features
By Emily Standfield, Data Volunteer with CIVICUS & Matthew Reading-Smith, Communications Coordinator at CIVICUS The events of 2020 accelerated the decline of civic freedoms.
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2020 to reshape the future of humanity

Opinions & Features
By Hafiz Jawad Sohail, Climate Reality Leader and SDGs Advocate from Pakistan 2020 was a year of real superheroes.
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Fundamental civic rights have deteriorated across Africa in 2020 - CIVICUS report finds

Opinions & Features
Advocacy and Campaigns Head at CIVICUS David Kode explains to SABC News the several drivers of civic space violations in Africa including mass protests that were met with violent repression, and electoral processes, mostly presidential elections.
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USA Downgraded as Civil Liberties Deteriorate Across the Americas

Opinions & Features
By Débora Leão, Civic Space Researcher at CIVICUS and Suraj K.
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People power under attack as world celebrates International Human Rights Day

Opinions & Features
By Mandeep Tiwana, Chief Programmes Officer at CIVICUS The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is 72 years old, but still the civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights it protects remain fiercely contested, with 87% of the world's population living in countries with very poor civic space conditions.
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Persevering through the pandemic

Opinions & Features
Message from Lysa John, CIVICUS SG Dear CIVICUS members and allies, What a year it has been! 2020 came with so many new challenges - both personally and professionally.
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Africa: Civic rights were eroded across Africa in 2020

Opinions & Features
By Sylvia Mbataru and Ine Van Severen, Civic Space Researchers at CIVICUS Fundamental civic rights, including freedoms of association, peaceful assembly and expression, deteriorated across Africa in 2020.

#SiConLasOSC - Yes with CSOs!

Opinions & Features
By Oriana Castillo, CIVICUS In July 2019, the VUKA! Coalition, a group working to coordinate civil society actors to reclaim civic space across the globe, supported VUKA! ally Alternativas y Capacidades to bring together 25 CSOs from across Mexico for a pilot workshop on strategies to counteract the stigmatisation and demonisation of civil society in the country.

Low engagement in virtual events: are we lacking digital confidence?

Opinions & Features
As virtual events become more relevant in our lives, we need to analyse what elements are limiting people’s willingness or capacity to engage with others in the virtual space By Richa Puri This year is like no other.

The humanising power of art in virtual events

Opinions & Features
By Bistra Kumbaroska “.

Beyond the checklist: what made ICSW/virtual events special?

Opinions & Features
By Bistra Kumbaroska Let me start this blog post with a personal confession: I love organising events, any kind of events - workshops, conferences, hackathons, week-long summits, team building activities, celebrations and anniversaries.

3 hard lessons learned during the ICSW/Virtual webinar series

Opinions & Features
Organising our webinar series was a joy met with a few challenges like dealing with Internet trolls.

3 positive lessons learned during the ICSW/Virtual webinar series

Opinions & Features
After celebrating seven online conversations about people power, we are inspired by the potential of virtual engagements and the resilience of civil society Virtual events can be fertile ground for people power Through our seven ICSW/virtual webinars, over 400 people (between attendees, speakers, collaborators and video viewers) engaged in meaningful conversations and exchanges that enriched our knowledge, souls and amplified the voices of civil society.
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Civil society fights back as smears and vilification intensify

Opinions & Features
By Andrew Firmin and Inés Pousadela The pattern is now clear.
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Women’s groups fight back as gender-based violence surges during the pandemic

Opinions & Features
By Inés Pousadela Barely weeks into the COVID-19 pandemic, concerns arose about the safety of women trapped indoors with their abusers, and data showing spikes in gender-based violence (GBV) quickly reached the news headlines.
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Myanmar elections show the regression of civic space over the last five years

Opinions & Features
By Lisa Majumdar, Advocacy Officer, CIVICUS Amidst a flurry of high-profile elections this week, it will be Myanmar’s turn to go to the polls on 8 November.
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CIVICUS report documents how states need civil society as second wave of COVID-19 hits worldwide

Opinions & Features
By Inés Pousadela, Senior Research Specialist and Andrew Firmin Editor-in-Chief at CIVICUS Covid-19 has unleashed a multi-dimensional, once-in-a-generation crisis.
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Amid COVID-19, what is the health of civic freedoms?

Opinions & Features
By Marianna Belalba Barreto, Civic Space Research Lead at CIVICUS and Aarti Narsee, Civic Space Research Officer More than half a year after the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic, governments are continuing to waste precious time and energy restricting human rights rather than focusing on fighting the virus.
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With targeted attacks on civil society, the future of democracy hangs in the balance in Tanzania

Opinions & Features
By Sylvia Mbataru, Civic Space Research at CIVICUS Elections in East Africa have faced a wave of recent problems.
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Violence against transgender people in Pakistan

Opinions & Features
TW/CW: transphobia, physical abuse, emotional abuse, financial abuse, sexual violence, rape, torture, murder, self-harm, drug and alcohol abuse I am Saro Imran, a transgender activist running a community-based organisation in Pakistan.
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Access to information during a pandemic: a matter of life or death

Opinions & Features
By Inés Pousadela, Senior Research Specialist No year could be more appropriate than 2020 for the world to celebrate its first International Day for Universal Access to Information (September 28).
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High stakes and pent up tensions in Côte d’Ivoire’s presidential election

Opinions & Features
By David Kode, Advocacy and Campaigns Lead As Côte d’Ivoire’s much-anticipated 31 October elections approach, voters are facing a familiar sequence of events.

Case Study on the Power of Radical Collaboration: People Before Projects

Opinions & Features
Conversation between Enhle Khumalo, CIVICUS Youth and Abigail Freeman, Alliance for Gender Justice Liberia in August 2020.
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At 75, is the UN still fit for purpose?

Opinions & Features
By Mandeep Tiwana, Chief Programmes Officer at CIVICUS This 75th anniversary offers a unique opportunity to examine the UN’s failings and reflect on ideas to improve its functioning.
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COVID is no reason to obstruct democracy

Opinions & Features
By Andrew Firmin, Editor-In-Chief of CIVICUS On the International Day of Democracy, it’s time to say that elections can be held under the pandemic.
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Côte d’Ivoire’s democracy in the balance as hotly contested elections loom

Opinions & Features
By David Kode, Advocacy and Campaigns lead at CIVICUS With two months to go before elections in Côte d’Ivoire, the priority is to ensure that there is an enabling environment for campaigns and rallies to be held without violence.
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From local to global: How can social-activism volunteering unite communities?

Opinions & Features
Lysa John, Secretary-General of CIVICUS Participation is a human right, deeply rooted in our need to form and voice opinions and influence the structures shaping our lives.

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