Interviews

Featured

JAPAN: ‘Each victory brings backlash, but LGBTQI+ people will keep fighting for equality and dignity'

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about the struggle for LGBTQI+ rights in Japan with Akira Nishiyama, Deputy Secretary General of the Japan Alliance for Legislation to Remove Social Barriers based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (Japan Alliance for LGBT Legislation, J-ALL).
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UGANDA: ‘Closure of the UN office will result in the loss of a crucial player in the field of human rights’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about the human rights situation and the closure of the United Nations (UN) office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Uganda with Dr Livingstone Sewanyana, founder and Executive Director of the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI) and UN independent expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order.
Featured

BELGIUM: ‘Small extremist groups are reacting to all advances in women’s rights’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Céline Danhier, director of O’YES, about the recent conservative backlash to the implementation of a sex and relationships education programme in state schools in Belgium’s Walloon region.
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ETHIOPIA: ‘The state of emergency has impeded people’s ability to advocate for their rights’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Jerusalem Girmay, Chief Communications Officer of Omna Tigray, about the state of emergency imposed in Ethiopia and its implications for the Tigray region.
Featured

NORTH KOREA: ‘It is time for the international community to adopt a ‘human rights up front’ approach’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about the activism of North Korean escapees with Greg Scarlatoiu, Executive Director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK).
Featured

SYRIA: ‘We spread the culture of human rights in a country with one of the world’s worst human rights records’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about Syria’s ongoing civil war and human rights crisis and its prospects for democratic change with Fadel Abdul Ghany, founder and Executive Director of the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR).
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ERITREA: ‘When the government reacts to our work, we know what we do is making an impact’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with about civil society work in Eritrea’s context of closed civic space with Helen Kidan, chairperson of the Eritrean Movement for Democracy and Human Rights (EMDHR).
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MEXICO: ‘The Supreme Court’s ruling marks a before and after in the struggle for reproductive justice’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about the recent Supreme Court ruling decriminalising abortion in Mexico with Brenda Rodriguez, communications coordinator of Information Group on Reproductive Choice (GIRE, Grupo de Información en Reproducción Elegida).
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VIETNAM: ‘The government hates losing face and has zero tolerance for criticism’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about recent arrests of leading environmental activists in Vietnam with Penelope Faulkner, President of Quê Me: Vietnam Committee on Human Rights (VCHR).
Featured

UGANDA: ‘The UN human rights office was instrumental in addressing human rights concerns in the conflict and post-conflict period’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about the closure of the United Nations (UN) office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Uganda with Robert Kirenga, Executive Director of the National Coalition of Human Rights Defenders-Uganda (NCHRD-U).
Featured

THE NETHERLANDS: ‘Restrictions on the right to protest should be the exception rather than the rule’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Sieger Sloot, an actor and climate activist from a Dutch branch of Extinction Rebellion (XR), and Marjolein Kuijers, policy officer on the right to protest at the Dutch section of Amnesty International, about the government’s reaction to climate protests in the run-up to parliamentary elections in the Netherlands in November.
Featured

MEXICO: ‘The decriminalisation of abortion is a huge collective achievement for the feminist movement’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Alba Adriana Jiménez Patlán, director of the Network for Sexual and Reproductive Rights in Mexico (ddeser), about the historic ruling of the Mexican Supreme Court decriminalising abortion at the federal level.
Featured

ECUADOR: ‘Indigenous peoples are the forgotten ones of public policies’

Interviews
CIVICUS discusses Indigenous peoples' environmental activism and civil society's hopes for the upcoming COP28 climate summit with Fausto Daniel Santi Gualina, a leader of the Indigenous Sarayaku people of the Ecuadorian Amazon.
Featured

SPAIN: ‘Explicit manifestations of gender-based violence are just the tip of the iceberg’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Isabel Abella Ruiz de Mendoza about the systemic macho violence faced by women in sport, evidenced in a recent case of abuse of power by the highest authority of the Spanish football federation.
Featured

SPAIN: ‘Women are no longer willing to tolerate disrespect or abuse of power’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Eleonora Giovio, sports editor of the Spanish newspaper El País, about the systemic abuses faced by women in sport, evidenced in a recent case of abuse of power by the highest authority in the Spanish football federation.
Featured

GABON: ‘Under the old regime civil society was not taken into account’

Interviews
CIVICUS discusses the military coup in Gabon with Pepecy Ogouliguende, expert in human rights, governance, gender and peace mediation and founder and president of Malachie.
Featured

BAHRAIN: ‘Had there been civic freedoms, the authorities would have known of the deep suffering at Jau Prison’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about the situation of political prisoners on hunger strike in Bahrain with Jawad Fairooz, founder and director of Salam for Democracy and Human Rights (Salam DHR).
Featured

EGYPT: ‘Activists who work from abroad are being targeted through their families’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about the ongoing repression of dissent in Egypt with Ahmed Attalla, Executive Director of the Egyptian Front for Human Rights (EFHR).
Featured

ZIMBABWE: ‘This so-called election was a circus and a waste of resources’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about Zimbabwe’s August general election and its aftermath with Obert Masaraure, national president of Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe and spokesperson of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, which brings together 84 Zimbabwean civil society organisations (CSOs).
Featured

IRAN: ‘The severity of the crackdown only shows how scared the regime is of the protest movement’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Sohrab Razaghi, executive director of Volunteer Activists (VA), about the situation in Iran on the anniversary of the anti-regime protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini at the hands of morality police.
Featured

GLOBAL: ‘With a wealth tax on the biggest fortunes, extreme poverty can be eradicated’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about climate change, global inequality and the need for redistribution with Adrien Fabre, a France-based climate economist and founder of Global Redistribution Advocates (GRA).
Featured

NAMIBIA: ‘We have seen some progress on LGBTQI+ rights, but there is a lot of work still to be done’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about recent moves to ban same-sex marriage in Namibia with Kevin Wessels, a young activist and a seasoned consultant and social entrepreneur working to advance human rights in Namibia.
Featured

GABON: ‘Civic space and the conditions for the exercise of human rights were difficult under the former regime’

Interviews
CIVICUS discusses the military coup in Gabon with Georges Mpaga, National Executive President of the Network of Free Civil Society Organisations of Gabon (ROLBG).
Featured

VENEZUELA: ‘The Darién Gap is claiming many lives that governments cannot even quantify’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Ana María Diez, president of Coalition for Venezuela, about the humanitarian crisis of Venezuelan migrants trying to reach the USA by land.
Featured

BANGLADESH: ‘The legal vulnerability of LGBTQI+ people leads to harassment and discrimination’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about the state of civic space and the rights of excluded groups in Bangladesh with Shahanur Islam, founder secretary general of JusticeMakers Bangladesh (JMBD) and founder president of JMBD in France.
Featured

PHILIPPINES: ‘The government is headed by a former dictator’s son who reached power in a suspicious manner’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Nymia Pimentel-Simbulan about the human rights situation in the Philippines since the start of Ferdinand Marcos Junior’s government.
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CHAD: ‘The government, local groups and society at large have all joined efforts to help refugees’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Monim Haroon, Emergency Communications Manager at the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), about the situation of Sudanese migrants in Chad’s refugee camps and civil society’s work to support them.
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PALESTINE: ‘People have lost confidence in an international system that fails to protect the powerless against the powerful’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about ongoing repression in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) and the international response to Israeli aggression with Susan Power, Head of Legal Research and Advocacy at Al-Haq.
Featured

PHILIPPINES: ‘Historical memory of martial law under Marcos Senior gives us strength to persevere’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Cristina Palabay, Secretary General of Karapatan, about the human rights situation in the Philippines since the start of Ferdinand Marcos Junior’s government.
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MALDIVES: ‘Calling this a free and fair election would be a betrayal to the people of Maldives’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about the upcoming presidential election in Maldives with Shahindha Ismail, founder of the Maldivian Democracy Network (MDN).
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UGANDA: ‘We’ll participate in COP28 to pressure world leaders to divert funding away from oil and gas’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about recent developments involving the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project and civil society’s efforts to stop it with Zaki Mamdoo, Campaign Coordinator of Stop EACOP.
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ZIMBABWE: ‘Election violence is a cover for ideological ambivalence and lack of substantive programmes’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about the general election in Zimbabwe and the role of civil society with Wellington Mbofana, former director of the Civic Education Network Trust (CIVNET), a civil society organisation (CSO) that recently shut down due to lack of funding, and a former board member of several Zimbabwean CSOs.
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AI: ‘The biggest challenges are the biases and lack of transparency of algorithms’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) for civil society’s work with Omran Najjar, Kshitij Sharma, Leen D’hondt, Nasilele Amatende and Petya Kangalova of Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT).
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BULGARIA: ‘Our society has finally become sensitised to domestic and gender-based violence’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Victoria Petrova, Communications and Development Director at the Bulgarian Fund for Women (BFW), about civil society’s struggles to end domestic and gender-based violence in Bulgaria.
Featured

COP28: ‘For us, climate change is not an abstract concept of future concern but an urgent reality of the present’

Interviews
CIVICUS discusses the hopes and roles of civil society at the forthcoming COP28 climate summit with climate justice activist Disha Ravi, founder of India’s branch of the youth-led climate movement Fridays for Future.
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NIGER: ‘Threats don’t solve problems; the international response must emphasise dialogue and negotiation’

Interviews
CIVICUS discusses the recent military coup in Niger with Clément Kocou Gbedey, Niger’s National Coordinator of the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP).
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ECUADOR: ‘Democracy has allowed room for organised crime and narco-politics to grow’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Mauricio Alarcón Salvador, executive director of Fundación Ciudadanía y Desarrollo (Citizenship and Development Foundation, FCD), about the elections that will be held in Ecuador on 20 August, the eruption of political violence and organised crime and the implications for civil society and the future of the country.
Featured

SENEGAL: ‘The situation is becoming more tense as we approach the 2024 elections’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about the deterioration of civic space in the run-up to next year’s elections in Senegal with Sadikh Niass, Secretary General of the African Meeting for the Defence of Human Rights (Rencontre Africaine pour la Défense des Droits de l’Homme, RADDHO), and Iba Sarr, Director of Programmes at RADDHO.
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KYRGYZSTAN: ‘True freedom cannot be granted by external forces; it needs to be claimed by people’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about the restrictive conditions for civil society in Kyrgyzstan with Tolekan Ismailova, founding president of the Coalition for Democracy and Civil Society and director of the human rights movement One World-Kyrgyzstan (Bir Duino-Kyrgyzstan, BDK).
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COP28: ‘Having a climate summit in an oil-and-gas country can jeopardise the outcomes’

Interviews
CIVICUS discusses the hopes and roles of civil society at the forthcoming COP28 climate summit with Harlee Richards, strategist at Follow This.
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UK: ‘We engage in disruptive protest to keep the climate catastrophe in people’s minds’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Mitch Rose, a volunteer activist with Just Stop Oil, about climate activism and its criminalisation in the UK.
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POLAND: ‘In reaction to conservative backlash, public support for LGBTQI+ rights is on the rise’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about 2023 Pride and Polish LGBTQI+ rights organisations’ response to the conservative backlash against LGBTQI+ rights with Annamaria Linczowska, advocacy and litigation officer at Campaign Against Homophobia (KPH).
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DRC: ‘Defending the environment means becoming the target of politicians and businesspeople’

Interviews
CIVICUS discusses the hopes and roles of civil society at the forthcoming COP28 climate summit with Guillaume Kalonji, a youth climate activist and founder of Rise Up Movement DRC.
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NEPAL: ‘This landmark decision represents significant progress for all LGBTQI+ people’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Sanjay Sharma, Programme Director of Nepal’s Blue Diamond Society, about the recent Supreme Court’s order to register same-sex marriages and civil society’s role in advancing LGBTQI+ rights in the country.
Featured

AI REGULATION: ‘There must be a balance between promoting innovation and protecting rights’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Nadia Benaissa, legal policy advisor at Bits of Freedom, about the risks artificial intelligence (AI) poses to human rights and the role civil society is playing in developing a legal framework for AI governance.
Featured

SPAIN: ‘The LGBTQI+ community fears both legal and social backlash’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about the situation of LGBTQI+ people in the context of Spain’s election with Emilio de Benito, spokesperson for Health and Seniors of the LGTB+ Collective of Madrid (COGAM).
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HONG KONG: ‘Any activism that the government dislikes can be deemed a national security violation’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about the persecution faced by Hong Kong activists in exile with Anouk Wear, research and policy adviser at Hong Kong Watch.
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TURKEY: ‘For the embattled LGBTQI+ movement, simply persisting in taking to the streets is an achievement’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about 2023 Pride and the civil society response to the Turkish government’s anti-LGBTQI+ campaign with Damla Umut Uzun, international relations and fundraising officer at Kaos Gay and Lesbian Cultural Research and Solidarity Association (Kaos GL).
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ANGOLA: ‘The untrue government narrative reveals an aversion to civil society denouncing malpractice’

Interviews
 PORTUGUESE CIVICUS discusses the state of civic space and the new restrictions being imposed on civil society in Angola with Emilio José Manuel, focal point for Angola of the Lusophone Platform for Human Rights and founding member of the Working Group for Human Rights Monitoring in Angola (GTMDH).
Featured

ESTONIA: ‘Legal changes deepen the cultural shift favourable to LGBTQI+ rights’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks about civil society’s role in the recent legalisation of same-sex marriage in Estonia with Kelly Grossthal, head of strategic litigation at the Estonian Human Rights Centre (EHRC).

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