Opinions & Features

Could the annulment of Kenya’s election set a precedent for African civil society?

Opinions & Features
By David Kode The ruling by Kenya’s Supreme Court strengthens the independence of the judiciary and places this institution as a key player and arbiter in future elections and on issues that affect peace and security in Kenya.
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Leaders Must Put Migration Back on Global Agenda

Opinions & Features
By Danny Sriskandarajah There was much excitement at 2016’s special United Nations summit on migration and refugees.
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Rising Attacks on Environmental Defenders Threaten Human Rights Goals Globally

Opinions & Features
By Inés Pousadela  “I have been told that my name is on a hit list…but I haven’t been killed yet.

The Participation Revolution

Opinions & Features
By Danny Sriskandarajah The falling levels of public trust in public institutions we see all over the world should be a wake-up call for those of us who support open government.
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Brics: Uma proposta de nova ordem mundial que ignora os direitos básicos dos cidadãos

Opinions & Features
Escrito por Fabio de Almeida Pinto, Coordenador Executivo do IDS, e Marianna Belalba Barreto, da CIVICUS - World Alliance for Citizen Participation Entre 3 e 5 de setembro, o presidente Michel Temer estará em Xiamen, China, para a 9ª Cúpula dos Brics, onde se reunirá com os líderes de Rússia, Índia, China e África do Sul para discutir e aprofundar a cooperação em comércio internacional, desenvolvimento e segurança.
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BRICS bloc’s lofty aims lack legitimacy without civil society

Opinions & Features
By Mandeep Tiwana and Cathal Gilbert As Xiamen prepares to host 2017 summit, the group's vision of a "just, equitable and democratic multi-polar international order" is not served well by its member states' disregard for citizens' voices.
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Hope for citizen voice, despite ‘narrowed’ civic space

Opinions & Features
By Ine van Severen and Corlett Letlojane President Jacob Zuma heads to China this week to meet with the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and China at the the 9th Brics Summit.
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Angolan elections: Different name, same game for civil society?

Opinions & Features
By David Kode Over the last 38 years, particularly since the end of the civil war in 2002, President Dos Santos has ruled Angola through securitisation of the society, repressing all dissent and restricting freedom of expression, association and assembly.
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Squeezing civil society hurts India’s economy and democracy

Opinions & Features
By Mandeep Tiwana India played a key moral role in international affairs during the anti-colonial struggles and as a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement during the cold war.
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Harmonisation, Participation and Coherence are Key to Realising the 2030 Agenda

Opinions & Features
By Mandeep Tiwana and Tor Hodenfield  Two challenges – overlapping reporting requirements and less than universal compliance with human rights obligations – could be addressed by involving civil society more meaningfully in substantive processes.
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From Venezuela to US: People power

Opinions & Features
By Danny Sriskandarajah Goldman Sachs’ decision to bailout the Venezuelan government has, unsurprisingly, attracted widespread global condemnation.
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Trends and Challenges in Global Civil Society

Opinions & Features
Bernadette Johnson interviews CIVICUS’ Secretary General Danny Sriskandarajah on broad trends affecting civil society spaces globally.
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To Achieve Ambitious Goals – We Need to Start with our Basic Rights

Opinions & Features
By Oliver Henman and Andrew Firmin Recent protests in Ethiopia have seen people demonstrate in their thousands, angry at their authoritarian government, its favouritism towards those close to the ruling elite, and its failure to share the country’s wealth more equally.
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It's time for G20 leaders to embrace civil society

Opinions & Features
By Cathal Gilbert  There is a growing list of critical problems in the G20's inbox, namely a faltering global economy, terrorist threats in a majority of G20 member states, and a patched-up climate change agreement.
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Attacks On Citizen Rights In SA: Five Trends And Countrywide Threats

Opinions & Features
By Kgalalelo Gaebee  From the large city centres to the rural townships, South Africans are witnessing a nationwide crackdown on their civic rights.
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CIVICUS Monitor: a new effort to study civic space

Opinions & Features
After two years of deep thinking and hard work, the global civil society alliance CIVICUS has launched the beta version of the CIVICUS Monitor – the first ever online tool specifically designed to track and rate respect for civic space, in as close to real-time as possible.
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Big business and activists finally agree. On this one issue

Opinions & Features
By Danny Sriskandarajah With some of the world’s biggest economies now companies, not states, the benefits for civil society of working more closely with business are clear.

A quest to find our generation’s mission

Opinions & Features
Based in Johannesburg since 2002, CIVICUS: World Alliance is commemorating Youth Day in South Africa by initiating a conversation to find this generation of young people’s mission and empower youth to organise, mobilise and take action throughout the world to better our communities.
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We Know We Can’t Do It Alone, But How Can We Work Together?

Opinions & Features
By Amy Taylor We’re living through a crisis of democracy where progressive internationalism is under attack.
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Promoting prosperity means starting with the basics

Opinions & Features
By Danny Sriskandarajah Emerging challenges such as the impending rise of automation calls for new and innovative solutions.

Activism and the state: How African civil society responds to repression

Opinions & Features
By David Kode and Mouna Ben Garga In most African countries, freedom of expression, assembly and association are stifled by state and non-state actors through the use of restrictive legislation, policies, and judicial persecution as well as physical attacks, threats and detention of activists and journalists.
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A Free and Diverse Media is Essential to Protecting Democracy in the 21st Century

Opinions & Features
By Danny Sriskandarajah Images of protestors flooding the streets – whether in Caracas, Bucharest, Istanbul or Washington DC – send a powerful message to those in power, especially when they are plastered across newspaper front pages.
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Togetherness Against the Riptide of Restrictions

Opinions & Features
By Ellie Stephens and Katie Mattern We’ve all heard it repeated multiple times in our lives:  we all work better together.
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Journalists on the front lines of global assault

Opinions & Features
By Cathal Gilbert, David Kode and Teldah Mawarire With reporters under attack the world over, it is imperative that citizens rally to protect press freedom.
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How do we make sure older people aren’t left behind?

Opinions & Features
People around the world are living longer.
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The CIVICUS Monitor – global data provides picture of a global crackdown

Opinions & Features
By Cathal Gilbert, Dom Perera and Marianna Belalba Today we launch ratings for all UN Member States on the CIVICUS Monitor – the first ever online tool specifically designed to track and rate respect for civic space, in as close to real time as possible.
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Democracy campaigner: governments are scared of the participation revolution

Opinions & Features
Closing space for civil society is undermining the ability of citizens to organise and mobilise.
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How to Undermine Democracy – Curtail Civil Society Rights

Opinions & Features
By Cathal Gilbert, Dom Perera, and Marianna Belalba Recent elections and referendums in a growing number of countries from Turkey to the USA and beyond are producing leaders and policies, which directly threaten some of the core principles of democracy.
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Backsliding on civic space in democracies

Opinions & Features
By Mandeep Tiwana It’s no secret that democracy is facing a global stress test.
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Can Democracy Stand Up to the Cult of the Strongman Leader?

Opinions & Features
By Mandeep Tiwana and Andrew Firmin Donald Trump’s presidency, recent protests in Russia and South Africa and the referendum to consolidate presidential power in Turkey have reignited debate about an emerging form of macho conservative politics called ‘Putinism’.

Gender and inclusion in civic space

Opinions & Features
Just after International Women’s Day this year, Amal Clooney, accomplished international human rights lawyer, addressed the UN.
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Global assault on our basic freedoms signposts a dangerous return to the past

Opinions & Features
By Danny Sriskandarajah Ask yourself these four questions.

A Day Without CIVICUS Women

Opinions & Features
About 66% of CIVICUS’ staff are women.

A Day Without Women Minorities

Opinions & Features
After Trump took office and the world was reeling in shock, it was women* who organized a worldwide women’s march to come together in solidarity.

A Day Without a Woman in the USA

Opinions & Features
The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day seems to match the current sentiment around much of the globe.

A Day Without a Woman in Tunisia

Opinions & Features
Before the Tunisian Revolution, International Women’s Day centered around a major state-sponsored festival in which artists and government officials celebrated the progressive Code of Personal Status (CPS) promulgated in 1957 under President Habib Bourguiba.

A Day Without a Woman in South Africa

Opinions & Features
Wathint’ abafazi,wathint’ imbokodo – When you strike a woman, you strike a rock – was the battle cry of women who marched to the Union Buildings in South Africa in 1956, and it has echoed through the ages and continues to ring true today.
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Women’s bodies are the battleground for civil liberties

Opinions & Features
By Teldah Mawarire and Sara Brandt Around the world, civic spaces are shrinking.
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Solidarity across frontlines: why CIVICUS is supporting the International Women’s Strike

Opinions & Features
At a time when right wing ultra nationalism threatens to usher in a new era of regressive patriarchal politics, the International Women’s Strike reminds us of the power of civil societies to resist.
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Don't lecture the Americans about our values. Demonstrate them.

Opinions & Features
By Danny Sriskandarajah and Julia Sanchez  There has never been a better time for Canada to show progressive leadership globally in support of inclusive and open societies that respect human rights.
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Against all odds: Civil society under fire

Opinions & Features
By Danny Sriskandarajah Civil society is under fire—sometimes literally—in many countries and in all regions of the world.
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In a time of exclusion, making space for Faith Based Organizations

Opinions & Features
By Amjad Mohamed Saleem For many people around the world, faith is embedded in cultures, practices and communities.
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Sustainable development for all ages

Opinions & Features
By Danny Sriskandarajah It’s a global phenomenon, already exerting a profound social and economic impact in both rich and poor countries.

Leave no person with disabilities behind

Opinions & Features
By Leave No One Behind Partneship and ADD International Pushpa Rani had pneumonia when she was eight years old, which left her extremely weak.

OGP must protect space for people power - before it is too late

Opinions & Features
By Cathal Gilbert  In some Open Government Partnership (OGP) member countries, the threats to peaceful dissent and activism are extremely grave.

We need a new social movement against inequality

Opinions & Features
By Danny Sriskandarajah Oxfam’s latest estimate that just eight super-rich people – down from 62 last year and 388 just six years ago – own more wealth than the poorest half of the world population is a clarion call to change the way we think about and try to tackle inequality.
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The business case for civic space

Opinions & Features
By Danny Sriskandarajah The long-term health of all societies depends on the ability of individuals to come together to share new ideas, promote social cohesion and advance shared interests for mutual benefit.

Reasons to be hopeful: Five moments that inspired us in 2016

Opinions & Features
The year 2016 was a difficult year in so many ways for those who believe in democratic values, fundamental human rights and social justice.
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Importance of protest in a Trump United States

Opinions & Features
By Elizabeth Stephens  In a speech shortly after the November election, President Barack Obama urged anti-Trump protesters not to be silent.
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Under threat: five countries in which civic space is rapidly closing

Opinions & Features
By Danny Sriskandarajah The closing of civic space is not just about people’s right to organize or protest in individual countries.

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