Interviews

Featured

COP26: ‘We hope that at COP26 words will translate into commitments that will change behaviours’

Interviews
In the run-up to the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), which will take place in Glasgow, UK between 31 October and 12 November 2021, CIVICUS is interviewing civil society activists, leaders and experts about the environmental challenges they face in their contexts, the actions they are undertaking to tackle them and their expectations for the upcoming summit.
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EL SALVADOR: ‘The president’s aim is to concentrate power’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Eduardo Escobar, executive director of Acción Ciudadana, an organisation that promotes transparency, accountability and the fight against corruption in El Salvador, about the political situation since President Nayib Bukele’s party won the February 2021 legislative election.
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COP26: ‘In response to pressure from below, COP26 should develop interventions for just climate action’

Interviews
In the run-up to the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), which will take place in Glasgow, UK between 31 October and 12 November 2021, CIVICUS is interviewing civil society activists, leaders and experts about the environmental challenges they face in their contexts, the actions they are undertaking to tackle them and their expectations for the upcoming summit.
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PAPUA NEW GUINEA: ‘The mining company must address its human rights and environmental legacy’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Keren Adams, Legal Director of the Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC), about the victory recently obtained in holding the British-Australian mining company Rio Tinto accountable for the multiple human rights violations caused by its operations in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea.
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INNOVATION: ‘Conventional human rights structures and practices may no longer be optimal or sufficient’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Edwin Rekosh, co-founder and managing partner of Rights CoLab, about the effects on civil society of the emergence of digital infrastructures and the importance of innovation and digital rights.
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TANZANIA: ‘What is needed is a new constitution reflecting the will of the people’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about the prospects for democratic change under a new president in Tanzania with Maria Sarungi Tsehai, a communications expert and founder of Change Tanzania.
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JAMAICA: ‘After 20 years of advocacy, now there is sustained public conversation around LGBTQI+ rights’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Karen Lloyd, Associate Director of J-FLAG, about the situation of LGBTQI+ rights in Jamaica and the significance of a recent report by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) that held the Jamaican government responsible for violating rights.
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UNITED KINGDOM: ‘The government is set on hiding from accountability and scrutiny’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks to Sam Grant, Head of Policy and Campaigns for Liberty, a UK civil society organisation, about the introduction of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill and its impacts on the right to protest.
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COLOMBIA: ‘Young people experience a feeling of wanting to change everything’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about the protests that began in Colombia in April 2021, triggered by proposed tax increases, with a young social and human rights activist who chose to remain anonymous for security reasons.
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ECUADOR: ‘Women’s rights have experienced an emergency situation since well before the pandemic’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Virginia Gómez de la Torre, president of Fundación Desafío, about the progress made and the challenges remaining in the area of sexual and reproductive rights in Ecuador.
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COLOMBIA: ‘Those who demonstrate put their integrity and their lives at risk’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about recent protests in Colombia with a group of members of the Committee for Solidarity with Political Prisoners Foundation (FCSPP) and the Defend Freedom: Everyone’s Business Campaign, who responded collectively to our questions.
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HONDURAS: ‘The ruling of the Inter-American Court marks a before and after for LGBTQI+ people’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Indyra Mendoza, founder and general coordinator of Red Lésbica Cattrachas (Cattrachas Lesbian Network), a lesbian feminist organisation dedicated to defending the human rights of LGBTQI+ people in Honduras.

ZAMBIA: ‘Electoral practices seen so far do not indicate good lessons for the region’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks to McDonald Chipenzi, Executive Director of the Governance, Elections, Advocacy, Research Services (GEARS) Initiative and Chair of the NGO Council in Zambia, about the state of civic space ahead of the crucial general election being held on 12 August 2021.
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MYANMAR: “Nearly everyone detained tells us they were beaten”

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks to Manny Maung, Myanmar researcher for Human Rights Watch (HRW), about the human rights situation in Myanmar.
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MALAYSIA: ‘The government should have assisted refugees under the pandemic’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks to Htoon Htoon Oo, a refugee and activist from Myanmar, currently based in Malaysia.
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INDONESIA: “Peaceful pro-independence activists may be labeled as terrorists”

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks to Samuel Awom, Coordinator of the human rights group KontraS Papua, which monitors human rights violations, advocates for victims and works for peace in Papua.
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MYANMAR: “The military turned medical workers from heroes to criminals overnight”

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks to Nay Lin Tun, a medical doctor who regularly volunteers with rescue teams in emergency areas in the city of Yangon, Myanmar.
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PHILIPPINES: ‘The charges against me are part of the government’s efforts at silencing its critics’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with the chairperson of human rights group Karapatan, Elisa ‘Tita’ Lubi, who currently faces fabricated charges of attempted murder.
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KYRGYZSTAN: ‘The citizens' choice in the referendum will be decisive for our future’

Interviews
CIVICUS and the International Partnership for Human Rights speak to Ulugbek Azimov, legal expert at the Legal Prosperity Foundation, about the protests that took place in Kyrgyzstan in October 2020 and subsequent political developments.
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BANGLADESH: “To address rape we need a thorough reform of the legal system”

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks to Aparajita Sangita, a Bangladeshi human rights activist and an international award-winning independent filmmaker.
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MIGRANTS’ RIGHTS: ‘Europe instrumentalises human suffering to deter migration’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about the situation of migrants and refugees in Greece with Maya Thomas-Davis, an Advocacy and Communications Officer at the Legal Centre Lesvos AMKE, a Greek civil society organisation that provides free legal information and assistance to migrants who arrive by sea to Lesvos, where the Centre is based.
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THAILAND: ‘Young people question the government abusing their rights and compromising their future’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks to Amnesty International Thailand’s executive director, Piyanut Kotsan, about the Thai pro-democracy movement and the repression of protests.
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SLOVENIA: ‘The government has taken advantage of the pandemic to restrict protest’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about the recent right-wing shift in Slovenia with Brankica Petković, a researcher and project manager at the Peace Institute in Ljubljana.
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INDIA: ‘CSOs that dare speak truth to power are attacked with politically motivated charges’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks to human rights lawyer and researcher Mrinal Sharma about the state of civic freedoms in India.
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ECOCIDE: ‘Perpetrators of environmental destruction should be prosecuted just like war criminals are’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Jojo Mehta, co-founder and Executive Director of Stop Ecocide International and Chair of the Stop Ecocide Foundation.
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GREECE: ‘We need a change in narratives as well as in policies towards migration’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about the situation of migrants and refugees in Greece and the role of civil society in policymaking with Lefteris Papagiannakis, Head of Advocacy, Policy and Research at Solidarity Now and former Vice Mayor on Migrant and Refugee Affairs for the Municipality of Athens.
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UNITED NATIONS: ‘The existing human rights system must be criticised, while still being defended’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Brian Schapira, Director of Institutional Relations at the Center for Latin America´s Opening and Development (Centro para la Apertura y el Desarrollo de América Latina, CADAL), a foundation based in Argentina that works to defend and promote human rights.
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ETHIOPIA: ‘The June 2021 election is between democratic life and death’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks to Mesud Gebeyehu about the political conflict in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia and the highly contested upcoming Ethiopian national election, scheduled to take place in June 2021 amidst an ongoing pandemic and a continuing state of emergency.
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MYANMAR: “If this coup is not overturned, there will be many more political prisoners”

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about the recent military coup in Myanmar with Bo Kyi, a former political prisoner and co-founder of the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners (AAPP).
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ANGOLA: “The ruling party sees local elections as a threat”

Interviews
View the original interview in Portuguese here CIVICUS speaks about the situation in Angola with Pascoal Baptistiny, Executive Director of MBAKITA  – Kubango Agricultural Benevolent Mission, Inclusion, Technologies and the Environment, a civil society organisation based in the Cuando Cubango province in southern Angola.
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COSTA RICA: ‘The protests highlighted unresolved structural problems’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about the recent protests in Costa Rica with Carlos Berríos Solórzano, co-founder of Asociación Agentes de Cambio-Nicaragua (Association Agents of Change – Nicaragua) and member of Red Previos (Central American Youth Network).
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NAMIBIA: ‘Protests against gender-based violence were triggered by collective hope’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks to Bertha Tobias about the recent protests against femicide and gender-based violence (GBV) in Namibia.
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PERU: ‘Constitutional debate has taken on new relevance as a result of the protests’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about recent protests in Peru with Rafael Barrio de Mendoza, a researcher on processes of territorial transformation from Grupo Propuesta Ciudadana, a consortium of 10 civil society organisations with a presence in 16 regions of Peru.
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#UN75: ‘Moving forward, the UN should continue to provide access through accessible virtual platforms’

Interviews
Following the 75th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations (UN), CIVICUS is having conversations with civil society activists, advocates and practitioners about the roles the UN has played so far, the successes it has achieved and the challenges ahead.
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GUATEMALA: ‘The protests were a reflection of both social organisation and citizen autonomy’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about recent protests in Guatemala with Sandra Morán Reyes, an advocate of women’s and LGBTQI+ rights.
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#BEIJING25: ‘More women in public office translates into better government and a more robust democracy’

Interviews
For the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action, CIVICUS is interviewing civil society activists, leaders and experts about the progress achieved and the challenges ahead.
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UNITED STATES: ‘The 2020 election is a political and moral mandate against fascism’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about voter suppression and its implications for US democracy with Yael Bromberg, Chief Counsel for Voting Rights at The Andrew Goodman Foundation, an organisation that works to make the voices of young people – one of the most underrepresented voter groups in the USA – a powerful force for democracy.
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#BEIJING25: ‘All efforts towards gender equality must be built upon intersectionality and power-shifting’

Interviews
For the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action, CIVICUS is interviewing civil society activists, leaders and experts about the progress achieved and the challenges ahead.
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RUSSIA: ‘Human rights activism can be expected to increase in reaction to repression’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Leonid Drabkin, a coordinator with OVD-Info, an independent human rights civil society organisation (CSO) that documents and helps the victims of political persecution in Russia.
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UGANDA: ‘No candidate can possibly win the election without young people’s votes’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Mohammed Ndifuna, Executive Director of Justice Access Point-Uganda (JAP).
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SOUTH KOREA: ‘North Korean defectors and activists face increasing pressure to stay silent’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Ethan Hee-Seok Shin, a legal analyst with the Transitional Justice Working Group (TJWG), a Seoul-based civil society organisation (CSO) founded by human rights advocates and researchers from five countries.
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ITALY: ‘The Sardines movement is all about building self-confidence in the progressive side of politics’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks to Andrea Garreffa, one of the founders of the Sardines movement (Movimento delle Sardine), a grassroots political movement that began in November 2019 in Bologna, Italy, in protest against the hateful rhetoric of right-wing populist leader Matteo Salvini.
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ARGENTINA: ‘Cultural change enabled legal change, and legal change deepened cultural change’

Interviews
Ten years after the Equal Marriage Law, a milestone for Latin America, was passed in Argentina, CIVICUS speaks with LGBTQI+ leader María Rachid about the strategies that the movement used and the tactics that worked best to advance the equality agenda – tactics that may well still be relevant today.
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COVID-19: ‘This is not just a health crisis but also a justice crisis’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks to Abigail Moy, Director of the Legal Empowerment Network, the largest community of grassroots justice defenders in the world.
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MYANMAR: ‘Opposition parties complain that the election body censors their messaging'

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks to award-winning journalist Cape Diamond (Pyae Sone Win) about the upcoming elections in Myanmar.
Featured

UN75: ‘Civil society needs to be the conscience of the global community’

Interviews
To mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations (UN), CIVICUS is having conversations with civil society activists, advocates and practitioners about the roles the UN has played so far, the successes it has achieved and the challenges ahead.
Featured

LEBANON: ‘This crisis should be handled with a feminist vision’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks to Lina Abou Habib, a feminist activist based in Beirut, Lebanon, about the civil society response to the emergency caused by the explosion on 4 August 2020.
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KAZAKHSTAN: ‘The quarantine became a sort of cover for the government to persecute civil society’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks to Asya Tulesova, an environmental and civic rights defender from Kazakhstan.
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POLAND: ‘The crisis of democracy and human rights will deepen’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Małgorzata Szuleka about Poland’s recent presidential elections, held under the COVID-19 pandemic, and the ruling party’s use of anti-LGBTQI+ rhetoric to mobilise its electorate.
Featured

#UN75: ‘The COVID-19 pandemic showed that multilateral institutions are essential’

Interviews
To mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations (UN), CIVICUS is having conversations with civil society activists, advocates and practitioners about the roles the UN has played so far, the successes it has achieved and the challenges ahead.

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