CIVICUS spoke to Mamadou Moctar Sarr, a civil society activist and executive secretary of the National Forum for Human Rights Organisations (Forum nationalepour l’organisation des droits humains, FONADH) about challenges facing human rights defenders in Mauritania 1.

Pakistan’s new policy to regulate the registration and operations of international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) has been strongly condemned by civil society.

With parliamentary elections currently underway in Egypt, the international community must not overlook the on-going crackdown on civil society and civic freedoms in the country, say CIVICUS, the global civil society alliance.

The situation of detained Angolan pro-democracy activist and youth human rights defender Henrique Luaty da Silva Beirão has deteriorated and is now life threatening.

Civil society and human rights defenders continue to face daunting challenges in Uganda ranging from judicial persecution and intimidation to harassment and threats for the work they do.

Civil Society is on the frontline responding to the refugee crisis.

There are concerns over the effects on civil society organisations of recommendations made by the Financial Action Task Force.

Two draft laws to restrict civic space in Israel are currently before its Parliament.

Global civil society alliance, CIVICUS, expresses grave alarm over reports that members of the Israeli Knesset have proposed two Bills that, if approved, would place unprecedented and debilitating restrictions on the legitimate activities of civil society organisations (CSOs) operating in Israel.

Bangladesh: Release and drop all charges against all those arbitrarily arrested and investigate police abuse Global civil society alliance CIVICUS is calling for your support and solidarity to demand the release of students and protesters who were arrested and charged over the last month in Bangladesh.

Pierre Nkurunziza was sworn in for a third term as Burundi’s President on Thursday, 20 August 2015, six days ahead of schedule.

Ramiro Orias, is a lawyer and specialist on human rights and issues related to access to justice in Bolivia.

Sixteen international organisations have joined the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM) in welcoming the release of its president Mazen Darwish and in calling for all charges against him and his colleagues to be dropped, as well as for the release of all other prisoners of conscience who remain detained by the Syrian authorities.

Global civil society alliance, CIVICUS condemns the 3 August sentencing of 18 Muslim leaders, protestors and journalists in Ethiopia under the country’s widely criticised anti-terrorism law.

Ahead of plans for a parliamentary debate on the proposed Uganda NGO Bill 2015, CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation and the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI) call upon the Honourable Members of Uganda’s Parliament to either reject or radically overhaul the Bill in line with ‘Best Practices’ outlined by the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association.

CIVICUS has written to the President of South Korea to express its deep concern over the judicial harassment and detention of individuals and civil society activists for organizing and participating in protests commemorating the one-year anniversary of the Sewol Ferry tragedy.

CIVICUS has written to President Park Geun-hye of South Korea to reiterate our deep concern over the continued judicial harassment and detention of individuals and civil society activists for organizing and participating in protests commemorating the one-year anniversary of the Sewol Ferry tragedy.

   Global civil society alliance, CIVICUS condemns the Government of Venezuela’s repeated harassment of civil society members who engage with UN human rights mechanisms.

During the 29th Session of the UN Human Rights Council (15 June - 3 July 2015), CIVICUS made a number of joint and individual interventions to highlight restrictions on civil society space.

English | French | Portuguese | Spanish The deadline to submit a proposal to host an event at the 2016 ICSW has been extended to 13 September 2015! ICSW 2016 will involve a diverse partnership of civil society actors that seek to tackle the world’s most pressing challenges.

29 June 2015 - In a show of solidarity against grave rights violations, 25 governments have criticised Azerbaijan’s government in the world’s premier human rights body.

29 June 2015 - Global civil society alliance, CIVICUS condemns the on-going crackdown on civil society in Angola, urging the international community not to look the other way as the safety of activists, members of civil society organisations (CSOs) and journalists is imperilled.

A new global report by CIVICUS finds that rights of civil society were violated in almost half of the world’s 193 countries in 2014.

To Permanent Representatives of member and observer States of the UN Human Rights Council Geneva, 10 June 2015 Your Excellencies, We are writing to urge your delegation to address serious, widespread and ongoing violations and abuses of international human rights and humanitarian law committed in South Sudan and to also address the lack of any credible accountability for war crimes and possible crimes against humanity in the country during the upcoming 29th session of the UN Human Rights Council.

Lizet Vlamings is a researcher with expertise in human rights and public health.

CIVICUS is deeply concerned about the possible impact of China’s new draft Non-Mainland Non-Governmental Organizations Management Law which applies to all non-profit, non-governmental “social organisations” formed outside mainland China that carry out activities promoting “public welfare” within mainland China.

This toolkit is designed to stimulate a reflection around the potential and limits of multi-stakeholder processes in promoting socio-political change, and provides practical tools and resources to facilitate the use of dialogue processes in new ways.

7 May 2015 H.

Global civil society alliance, CIVICUS, expresses grave concern over the arbitrary suspension of fundamental civil liberties and the targeted judicial persecution of persons arrested for participating in ongoing demonstrations in Baltimore, USA.

Intimidation Undermines Independent OversightVenezuela is intimidating and harassing human rights defenders, and making unsubstantiated allegations that they are seeking to undermine Venezuelan democracy, 28 international and Latin American human rights organizations said today.

1 April 2015.

On March 4, 2015, the FATF Secretariat shared a section of the draft Best Practice Paper on Combating the Abuse of Non-Profit Organisation (BPP), requesting input from non-profit organizations (NPOs) to be submitted before the consultation on March 25 or by April 10.

CIVICUS secretary general Danny Sriskandarajah, together with the leaders of ActionAid (Adriano Campolina), AWID (Lydia Alpízar Durán), Greenpeace (Kumi Naidoo) and Oxfam (Winnie Byanyima), have made a joint call for unity against the 1% ahead of the World Social Forum in Tunis.

CIVICUS has submitted recommendations on Ireland's national plan to implement UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

Ahead of the 28th Session of the UN Human Rights Council (UN HRC), 11 human rights organisations are calling upon the intergovernmental body to address Azerbaijan's rapidly deteriorating environment for human rights defenders (HRDs), civil society organisations (CSOs) and independent media.

Since International Civil Society Week (2014) was such a big success with more than 40 partner-led workshops and more than 630 inspired participants, CIVICUS is excited to continue the conference's legacy by convening the next International Civil Society Week (2016) in Latin America.

Interview with Mireille Delmas-Marty, Emeritus Professor at Collège de France This interview seeks to comment on the innovating potential of local democratic practices presented in the CIVICUS- FACTS Report on “Stories of Innovative Democracy at Local Level: Enhancing Participation, Activism and Social Change Across the World".

Joint Brief by CIVICUS and the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project (EHAHRDP)   21 January 2015 - Ahead of Kenya’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the UN Human Rights Council tomorrow, CIVICUS and the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project (EHAHRDP) urge the government to stop its onslaught against civil society and urgently address backsliding on civic freedoms.

15 January 2015 – This week, 16 human rights organisations have written to 47 States to express grave concern ahead of a 20 January verdict in the trial of Nabeel Rajab, a prominent Bahraini human rights defender.

Almost a billion lives hang in the balance at crucial summits in New York & Paris Famous names back one of the biggest campaigns ever launched New figures show poverty could increase for the first time in a generation According to new research, almost a billion extra people face a life of extreme poverty if leaders duck key decisions on poverty, inequality and climate change due to be taken at two crucial summits in New York and Paris later this year, with billions more continuing to face a life of hardship.

5 December 2014: Global civil society alliance, CIVICUS, is dismayed over the politically motivated sentences handed down this week to Bahraini human rights activists Maryam al-Khawaja and Zainab al-Khawaja.

4 December 2014: In response to the UN Secretary General's highly anticipated post-2015 synthesis report 'The road to dignity by 2030: ending poverty, transforming all lives and protecting the planet', CIVICUS issued the following statement: 

On 22 November 2014, Bahrain’s citizens will be called to cast their votes for legislative and municipal elections.

The upcoming Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Egypt on 5 November 2014 comes at a critical time for human rights, freedoms and independent Egyptian civil society, including rights defenders and democracy activists.

20 October 2014.

9 October 2014.

Pro-democracy protests continue in Hong Kong as protesters remain steadfast in their calls for fair and transparent elections of the Chief Executive and for China to stop meddling in the political affairs and electoral processes.

BACKGROUND INFORMATIONThe legal, regulatory, and policy environment in which Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) operate is key to their ability to register, operate, access resources, and effectively engage in advocacy, all of which are key to civil society’s ability to flourish and be successful.

"We write to you as the Post-2015 Human Rights Caucus, a cross-constituency coalition of development, environment, trade union, feminist and human rights organizations worldwide.

CIVICUS and a number of national and international civil society groups have urged the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group to ensure that the Government of Sri Lanka upholds Commonwealth values on democracy and human rights.