June/July 2010
Issue: 54



Welcome to Civil Society Watch Monthly Bulletin, an e-newsletter of updates and analyses concerning civil society's rights to freedom of association, assembly and expression around the world. The Bulletin is compiled by the staff at Civil Society Watch, a programme of CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation. Please feel free to forward the Bulletin to friends and colleagues. We welcome your comments and contributions!
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AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: Agents of Fear: the National Security Service in Sudan
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CIVICUS Participatory Governance Exchange – online resource centre
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Freedom House: Democracy and Dissent: A Decade of Decline in Russia and the former Soviet Union
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Foreign Policy and The Fund for Peace: Failed States Index
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International Journal of Civil Society Law newsletter July 2010
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CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation is an international movement of civil society with members and partners in over a hundred countries. CIVICUS nurtures the foundation, growth and protection of citizen action throughout the world especially in areas where participatory democracy and citizens’ freedom of association are threatened. The Civil Society Watch Programme of CIVICUS seeks to mobilise quick, principled and effective responses to events that threaten civil society fundamental freedoms of expression, association and assembly.


The Eurasia IDEA Network has focused on developing research materials and strategies for its four thematic working groups – Donor Policies, Transparency, Freedom of Association, and the SOS Committee for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders – as well as preparing for a network meeting in Moscow from 2-4 August, 2010. This meeting will provide an opportunity for network partners to exchange valuable information and resources, as well as identify key gaps in research, allowing the network to design research direction and plan for the development of advocacy tools in each of thematic areas. The network also tracked the ethnic crisis in southern Kyrgyzstan, compiling on the ground reports from partners and relevant news reports and scholarly articles (available here) and producing press releases on the outbreak of violence and threats against activist Tolekan Ismailova and letters of appeal to the UN. The network produced a draft documents on the effectiveness of international donor funding of civil society organisations.


UNITED NATIONS: UN creates single entity to promote women’s rights
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International LGBTI group gains official status at the UN
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CUBA: Government agrees to free 52 political prisoners
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RUSSIA: Overbearing powers for FSB to summon persons believed to be about to commit a crime dropped by Russian Duma
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Highlights


CIVICUS profiles Ameer Makhoul’s case in the Civil Society Behind Bars Campaign
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CIVICUS makes the case for Maksim Popov’s release at the UN Human Rights Council
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CIVICUS participates in the strategy meeting of the Africa CSOs Platform for Principled Partnership.
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Joint communiqué urging governments to do more to protect civil society
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CIVICUS and partners urge Venezuelan government to protect not persecute human rights defenders
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CIVICUS urges new presidential administration in the Philippines to prioritise protection of human rights and civil society
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CIVICUS expresses concern about intensified pressure on human rights defenders in Uzbekistan following political upheaval in its neighbourhood
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CIVICUS expresses concern on restrictions on freedom of movement for Turkmenistan journalists
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Open letter to the UN Secretary General on the fragile political situation in Kyrgyzstan
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CIVICUS calls on interim government of Kyrgyzstan to cease intimidating civil society activists
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CIVICUS urges Iran to stop persecuting human rights defenders and implement UPR recommendations
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Article on restrictions on civil society space in Africa and the need for a common platform
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ARMENIA: UN Special Rapporteur urges government to protect human rights defenders
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BURUNDI: Journalist detained on treason charges on flimsy grounds
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CHINA: Journalist sentenced to fifteen years in prison for criticising authorities in the international press
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COLUMBIA: Two more trade union activists assassinated
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FIJI: Restrictive media decree imposes sweeping controls over the journalists and media outlets
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INDIA: Office bearers of the Jammu and Kashmir Bar Association put under preventive detention
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IRAQ: Trade unions banned in the electricity sector
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PHILIPPINES: Community leaders assassinated
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RUSSIA: Head of Memorial charged for defaming Chechen President
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RWANDA: Suppression of press freedoms in the run-up to presidential elections condemned
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SOMALIA: Journalists under severe pressure as crackdown on freedom of expression continues
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SYRIA: Human rights lawyer who publicised unfair political trials sentenced to three years imprisonment
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TUNISIA: Law amended to criminalise contacts between human rights defenders and foreign institutions
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UNITED STATES: Supreme Court upholds ban on peaceful conflict resolution support to proscribed groups
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Gunman’s threat to two non-profit organisations raises concerns
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VENEZUELA: UN expert urges government to lift arrest warrant against TV producer
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VIETNAM: New associational regulations issued
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ZIMBABWE: Zim Rights Director finally released on bail
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The CSW team has taken a number of advocacy actions responding to reports from EWS partners including public statements on the situation of human rights defenders and civil society in Uzbekistan and Venezuela, as well as an open letter to the recently elected President Aquino concerning civil society in the Philippines. See Alerts and Analysis above for details. The CSW team also finalized a EWS report analyzing global trends and patterns in threats to civil society (available here). Individual EWS country pages have also been updated with partners’ quarterly reports from the Solomon Islands, the United States, and Uzbekistan. Final preparations are also underway to launch the new interactive database and online platform for action at 2010 World Assembly in Montreal, Canada.






In mid-June, the international community was stunned by ethnic violence in Southern Kyrgyzstan that left thousands dead or injured, and forced nearly 100,000 refugees to flee the region. In the midst of the conflict, human rights defenders, including the head and founder the organization Human Rights Centre “Citizens Against Corruption,” Tolekan Ismailova. Ms. Ismailova was kind enough to discuss the recent conflict with CIVICUS.
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DISCLAIMER
The views expressed in this bulletin are a reflection of those contained in the original reports to which they are linked here, and are not necessarily those of CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation.

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Adam Nord
Devendra Tak
Mandeep Tiwana
Netsanet Belay
Sonia Zilberman
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DESIGN AND LAYOUT
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