WUNRN
Direct Link to Full 28-Page CIVICUS 2015 Report - CIVIL SOCIETY WATCH REPORT:
http://www.civicus.org/images/CIVICUSCivilSocietyWatchReport2015.pdf
Democracy
on the Retreat in Over 96 of the 193 UN Member States – Report - Gender
U.S.
police arrest May Day protester in Oakland, California. Credit: Judith
Scherr/IPS
By Thalif Deen
UNITED
NATIONS, June 22, 2015 (IPS) - Democracy is on the retreat and
authoritarianism is on the rise in more than 96 of the U.N.’s 193 member
states, according to a new report released here.
The
two regions of “highest concern” for defenders of civic space are Sub-Saharan
Africa and the Middle East and North Africa, which between them account for
over half of the countries counted.
These
violations are increasing not only in countries perceived to be democratic but
also in countries with blatantly repressive regimes.
“The
widespread systematic attack on these core civil society liberties has taken
many forms, including assault, torture, kidnapping and assassination,” says
the CIVICUS Civil
Society Watch Report.
“We
have known for some time that encroachments on civic space and persecution of
peaceful activists were on the rise but it’s more pervasive than many may
think,” said Dr. Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah, Secretary-General of CIVICUS, a
South Africa-based international alliance dedicated to strengthening citizen
action and civil society worldwide.
“Our
monitoring in 2014 shows that legitimate civil society activities are
worryingly under threat in a huge number of countries in the global North and
South, democratic and authoritarian, on all continents,” he added.
The
report says while activists engaged in political reform, uncovering corruption
and human rights violations continue to be targeted, those defending local
communities from land grabs and environmental degradation, as well as those
promoting minority group rights, have been subjected to various forms of
persecution.
“The
link between unethical business practices and closing civic space is becoming
clearer as global inequality and capture of power and resources by a handful of
political and economic elite rises. “
Advocacy
for equitable sharing of natural resources and workers’ rights is becoming
increasingly fraught with danger, says the report.
The
examples cited range from the killings of environmental activists in Brazil to
the intimidation of organisations challenging the economic discourse in India,
to arbitrary detention of activists opposing oil exploration in the Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC).
Jenni
Williams (in white cap) addresses Women of Zimbabwe Arise members at Zimbabwe’s
parliament building in Harare with the police looking on. Zimbabwe is one of
the African countries where repression of civic freedoms appears to have
intensified. Credit: Misheck Rusere/IPS
Asked
to identify some of the worst offenders, Mandeep Tiwana, Head of Policy and
Research at CIVICUS, told IPS : “We don’t provide a ranking of the countries’
violations, but we are able to categorise limitations on civil society
activities into completely closed countries and active violators of civic
freedoms.”
He
said “closed countries” are where virtually no civic activity can take place
due to an extremely repressive environment. These include Eritrea, North
Korea, Syria, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
There
is a second list of countries that are active violators of civil society rights
– meaning they imprison, intimidate and attack civil society members and put in
place all kinds of regulations to limit the activities of civil society
organisations (CSOs), particularly those working to uncover corruption and
human rights violations, Tiwana said.
These
include Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belarus, China, Cuba, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi
Arabia and Vietnam.
The
report also points out some of the tactics deployed to close civic space
include passing restrictive laws and targeting individual civil society
organisations (CSOs) by raiding their offices, freezing their bank accounts or
deregistering them.
A
number of democracies are also engaging in illicit surveillance of civil
society activists, further weakening respect for human rights.
Stigmatisation
and demonisation of civil society activists by powerful political figures and
right-wing elements remains an area of concern.
“When
citizens’ most basic democratic rights are being violated in more than half the
world’s countries, alarm bells must start ringing for the international
community and leaders everywhere,” said Sriskandarajah.
Tiwana
told IPS governments in Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United
Arab Emirates have stepped up their efforts to prevent public demonstrations
and the activities of human rights groups.
“There
appears to be no let-up in official censorship and repression of active
citizens in authoritarian states like China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and
Vietnam.”
In
sub-Saharan Africa, he said, the repression of civic freedoms appears to have
intensified in countries such as Angola, Burundi, Ethiopia, Gambia, Rwanda,
Sudan, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.
And
activists and civil society groups in many countries in Central Asia and
Eastern Europe — where democracy remains fragile or non-existent such as
Azerbaijan, Belarus, Hungary, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Turkey, Uzbekistan and
Turkmenistan — are also feeling the heat following governments’ reactions to
scuttle demands for political reform.
In
South-East Asia, Tiwana pointed out, countries such as Cambodia and Malaysia
have a history of repressive governance and in Thailand, where the military
seized power through a recent coup, new ‘security’ measures continue to be
implemented to restrict civic freedoms.
Asked
what role the United Nations can play in naming and shaming these countries,
Tiwana said the U.N. Human Rights Council has emerged as a key international
forum for the protection of civic freedoms particularly through the Universal
Periodic Review process where each country gets its human rights record
reviewed every four years.
The
Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is currently
collating best practices to create a safe and enabling environment for civil
society.
The
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al-Hussein has been an active
supporter of civil society’s ability to operate freely, as was his predecessor,
Navi Pillay, who was ardent advocate of civic freedoms, Tiwana said.
Edited by Kitty Stapp