CIVICUS discusses the devastating impact of palm oil extraction in West Papua with Tigor Hutapea, legal representative of Pusaka Bentala Rakyat, an organisation campaigning for Indigenous Papuan people’s rights to manage their customary lands and forests.
Interviews
CIVICUS discusses recent tensions between India and Pakistan with Altaf Hussain Wani, chair of the Kashmir Institute of International Relations, a think tank focused on peace research and advocacy based in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, in the disputed Kashmir region.
CIVICUS discusses ongoing protests in Turkey with lawyer Eren Keskin, chair of the Human Rights Association (IHD).
CIVICUS discusses the election of Pope Leo XIV with Paul Elie, senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs, and regular contributor to The New Yorker.
CIVICUS discusses the challenges facing Nepal’s Dalit community with Rup Sunar, chairperson of the Dignity Initiative, a Kathmandu-based research and advocacy organisation working to dismantle caste-based discrimination.
CIVICUS discusses amendments to Indonesia’s national military law with Andrie Yunus, Deputy Coordinator for External Affairs at the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS), an organisation that advocates for human rights and the abolition of the death penalty.
CIVICUS speaks with Eric Bjornlund, President and CEO of Democracy International, about the impacts of the US foreign aid freeze and the resulting legal challenges the Trump administration is facing.
CIVICUS discusses a UK court ruling on gender definitions with Keyne Walker, political and strategic director at TransActual, a trans-led civil society organisation that focuses on healthcare and legal protections.
CIVICUS discusses Romania’s presidential election with Anda Serban, Executive Director of Resource Center for Public Participation (CERE), a civil society organisation (CSO) that focuses on public participation and transparency in decision-making processes.
POLAND: ‘Despite the repeal of ‘LGBT-free zones’, LGBTQI+ people still lack basic legal protections’
CIVICUS discusses progress on LGBTQI+ rights in Poland with Annamaria Linczowska, Advocacy and Litigation Officer at Campaign Against Homophobia (KPH), a Polish LGBTQI+ rights group that works to counter violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity through political, social and legal advocacy.
CIVICUS speaks about democratic decline in the USA with humanitarian and civil society activist Samuel Worthington, former president of the US civil society alliance InterAction and author of a new book, Prisoners of Hope: Global Action and the Evolving Roles of US NGOs.
CIVICUS discusses the Australian election with Saffron Zomer, Executive Director of the Australian Democracy Network, a local organisation that campaigns for a more accountable, fair, open and participatory democracy.
CIVICUS discusses Trinidad and Tobago’s recent recriminalisation of same-sex relations with Angelique Nixon, Director of CAISO: Sex and Gender Justice, a feminist civil society organisation that promotes LGBTQI+ rights.
CIVICUS discusses protests in Greece with Stefanos Loukopoulos, Director of Vouliwatch, a civil society organisation that monitors parliamentary work and strengthens democratic institutions.
CIVICUS discusses Peru’s controversial anti-NGO law with Álvaro Henzler, President of Asociación Civil Transparencia, an organisation working for quality democracy and fair political representation.
CIVICUS speaks with members of Youth Demand about a recent police raid on their meeting.
CIVICUS discusses Canada’s 28 April election with Beatrice Wayne, Director of Research and Policy at the Samara Centre for Democracy, a non-partisan civil society organisation (CSO) dedicated to strengthening Canadian democracy.
CIVICUS discusses Turkey’s ongoing protests with Rümeysa Çamdereli, Research Director of the YADA foundation, a civil society organisation (CSO) that works to strengthen civil society’s impact.
CIVICUS speaks with human rights lawyer Moniza Kakar about Pakistan’s controversial campaign to expel Afghan refugees.
CIVICUS discusses Ecuador’s presidential election with Jorge Tapia de los Reyes, Coordinator of the Democracy and Politics Department and the Political Funding Observatory of the Citizenship and Development Foundation (FCD).
CIVICUS speaks about an escalating crisis in South Sudan with Edmund Yakani, Executive Director of Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) South Sudan.
CIVICUS discusses the dangers facing civil society activists and whistleblowers in South Africa with Corlett Letlojane.
CIVICUS speaks with Ukrainian gender rights activist Maryna Rudenko about the gendered impacts of the war in Ukraine and the importance of including women in peacebuilding efforts.
CIVICUS discusses recent changes in the French political landscape with Valentin Stel, Co-Director of SOS Racisme, a civil society organisation that has been working for 40 years to improve public policy and tackle racism, antisemitism and racial discrimination in France.
CIVICUS discusses recent protests in North Macedonia with Borjan Eftimov, a student activist from the local group YOUth Choose.
CIVICUS discusses Botswana’s new government with Dumiso Gatsha, director of Success Capital, a local youth-led LGBTQI+ organisation.
CIVICUS discusses global democratic decline with Soheïla Comninos, consultant at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University and lead author alongside Scott Warren, Fellow at the Institute, of its new report, Global Democracy Theory of Change.
CIVICUS discusses enforced disappearances in Mexico with Anna Karolina Chimiak, co-director of the Justice Centre for Peace and Development (CEPAD).
CIVICUS discusses Turkey’s proposed law targeting LGBTQI+ rights with an activist from Women for Women’s Human Rights Association, a civil society organisation fighting for equality and non-discrimination in Turkey.
Featured
CIVICUS discusses the arrest of former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte with Maria Sol Taule, deputy secretary general of the human rights organisation Karapatan.
CIVICUS speaks with Daniel Simons, Senior Legal Counsel Strategic Defence for Greenpeace International, about the lawsuit brought by an oil and gas company against Greenpeace and its broader implications for civil society.
CIVICUS discusses the foreign agents’ law recently adopted in Republika Srpska, one of the two main political entities that make up Bosnia and Herzegovina, with Damjan Ožegović, Senior Researcher and Legal Affairs Associate at Transparency International (TI) Bosnia.
CIVICUS discusses recent protests in Serbia with Alma Mustajbašić, researcher at Civic Initiatives, a Serbian civil society organisation that advocates for democracy, human rights and citizen engagement.
CIVICUS discusses military applications of AI and the urgent need for regulation with Franco Giandana Gigena, Policy Analyst at Access Now, a digital rights organisation that advocates for human rights in the technological age.
CIVICUS discusses challenges following Kosovo’s election with Taulant Hoxha, Executive Director of the Kosovar Civil Society Foundation (KCSF), an independent civil society organisation (CSO) that supports local groups to develop a more participatory and democratic society.
CIVICUS discusses the election of the next Organization of American States (OAS) Secretary General with Viviana Krsticevic, Executive Director of the Centre for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), a civil society organisation that works to ensure the full enjoyment of human rights in the Americas through the use of the inter-American system and other international mechanisms.
CIVICUS discusses recent developments in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) with Reagan Miviri, researcher and analyst at Ebuteli (‘staircase’), a Congolese research institute focused on issues of politics, governance and conflict.
CIVICUS discusses LGBTQI+ rights struggles and the backlash in Namibia with Miguel Gomes Antonio, Executive Director of the Southern African Christian Initiative (SACHI), a regional civil society organisation (CSO) that advocates for social and political development, democracy and good governance, social and economic justice and peace, religious tolerance and interfaith dialogue.
Tensions between Guyana and Venezuela have escalated following an alleged attack on Guyanese soldiers near the Cuyuni River.
CIVICUS discusses Nepal’s Social Network Bill with Dikshya Khadgi, a Nepali feminist digital rights lawyer and activist and a member of AALAWYA, a feminist advocacy and movement lawyering collective rooted in the values of justice, equality, radical care and cross-movement building.
CIVICUS discusses attacks on women’s and LGBTQI+ people’s rights with Natalia Gherardi, Executive Director of the Latin American Team on Justice and Gender (ELA), an Argentinean civil society organisation that works at the regional level.
CIVICUS discusses Kenya’s proposed Family Protection Bill with Arsenekah Ezekiel, executive director of World Post Changers Network, a Kenyan civil society organisation (CSO) that advocates for LGBTQI+ rights.
After three years of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, CIVICUS discusses the civil society response with Mykhailo Savva, member of the Expert Council of Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties, a civil society organisation (CSO) dedicated to the protection and promotion of human rights.
CIVICUS discusses civil society in Nicaragua with Amaru Ruiz, a Nicaraguan activist, president of Fundación del Río and president of the board of the Central American Association for Development and Democracy (ACDD).
CIVICUS discusses the current crisis in the Central African Republic (CAR) with an activist and human rights defender who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons.
CIVICUS discusses the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas with Yossi Mekelberg, Professor of International Relations and Senior Consulting Fellow at Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa Programme.
CIVICUS discusses Myanmar’s upcoming election with Nyein, a human rights advocate and researcher with the Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma (ALTSEAN-Burma).
CIVICUS discusses the USA’s ambitions towards Greenland with Rachael Lorna Johnstone, Professor of Law at the University of Akureyri in Iceland and the University of Greenland, and Fulbright Arctic IV Scholar.
CIVICUS discusses India’s new criminal laws with Aditya Shrivastava, a human rights lawyer, civil society activist and researcher with the Contested Democracy Platform at Södertörn University in Sweden.
CIVICUS speaks with Natallia Satsunkevich, human rights defender and interim board member of the Viasna Human Rights Centre, about the state of civil society in Belarus, the impact of repression on opposition movements and the role of the international community in supporting democracy.
