The Tunisian Truth and Dignity Commission: From a Human Rights to a Political Project Analysis The final report of the Tunisian Truth Commission (IVD) was presented to the public on March 31, 2019. Yasmin Hajer has followed and researched the process over the years. In her contribution, she explains how the coming to terms with the past was appropriated by the various political parties and how they tried to influence it. By Yasmine Jamal Hajar
Authoritarian Turn and Human Rights Crisis in the Philippines Background Since winning the presidency in 2016, Rodrigo Duterte’s regime has enacted policies of fear and repression that have eroded democratic norms and endorsed violations of fundamental rights. By Joshua Makalintal
Civic Charter Repression of civil society is on the rise all over the world. The charter aims to support civil society organizations as activists throughout the world, to advocate for their rights and freedom of action, and to demand government guarantees.
"This culture of impunity makes it easier for killings to take place" The NGO Global Witness documents 185 known deaths of environmental activists worldwide in 2015 - the highest annual death toll on record. Claudia Rolf spoke to one of the authors of the report, Billy Kyte. By Claudia Rolf
Civil society in Russia – Where external support is vital Russian NGOs are under pressure: They are hindered in their work with laws and checks by the authorities, paralyzed and driven to close down. External support is not only helpful, but vital. By Johannes Voswinkel
Maina Kiai: "Our Ideas keep living on" United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Maina Kiai, explains in this interview with Christine Meissler why he will never give up fighting for democracy and human rights. By Christine Meissler
Authoritarian repression under the pretext of sovereignty The repression of civil societies activites in countries like Egypt and Russia are justified with the "protection of the states sovereignity" and the "principle of non-intervention". When unwelcomed critique is silenced, activists need all our solidarity and support. By Wolfgang Kaleck and Simon Rau
Protecting and expanding civil society space nationally and internationally An analysis carried out by CIVICUS indicates that in far too many countries and in all global regions the conditions for civil society work and activities has worsened. Some of the solutions to this problem could be taken by civil society itself. By Andrew Firmin and Mandeep Tiwana
Syria: Systematic Torture and Sexualized Violence Speech Torture and sexualized violence are part of everyday life in Syrian prisons. However, human rights violations committed by the Assad regime play no role at the Geneva peace talks. With this in mind, Barbara Unmüßig, calls for women to be included as peace negotiators. By Barbara Unmüßig
