Interviews

Featured

‘Civil society won the debate on inequality but still needs to win the actual fight against it"

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks to Ben Phillips, Launch Director of the Fight Inequality Alliance, a growing movement of citizens from across the world uniting to take on the crisis of widening inequality, and build a world that works for all.
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United States: ‘Even in challenging times, civil society needs to be proactive in setting the agenda"

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks to Nick Robinson, a legal advisor at the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL) and lead of their United States Program.
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Catalonia: ‘It might take years to rebuild the political, social and emotional bridges that the pro-independence process has blown up’

Interviews
Catalonia’s independence movement hit the headlines in 2017, and Catalonia’s future remains undecided.
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Nigeria: ‘If passed, the NGO Bill will reduce the ability of CSOs to hold the government accountable and ensure that human rights are respected’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks to Oluseyi Babatunde Oyebisi, Director of the Nigeria Network of NGOs (NNNGO) about the draconian NGO bill under consideration by Nigerian lawmakers and the implications that it would have for civil society.
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‘Against hopelessness, we need to work not to lose the very small windows of freedom that we can find under this dictatorship’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks to an Iranian woman human rights defender about the causes and significance of the recent protests in Iran, as well as the prospects for change in a country with a closed civic space and a theocratic government that maintains a firm grip on power.
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‘There are signs of hope, but we are not waiting with our arms crossed but pushing for reforms that improve our lives’

Interviews
Angola saw a change at the top in 2017, when President José Eduardo dos Santos stepped down after a staggering 38 years in power, to be replaced by President Joao Lourenco.
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‘The idea that a certain group does not belong in a country is instrumental in enabling discrimination and persecution against it’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks to Susannah Sirkin, director of international policy and partnerships and senior advisor with Physicians for Human Rights (PHR).
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‘Market discourse has captured the development agenda to a point that may be incompatible with UN mandates’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks with Barbara Adams, senior policy analyst at the Global Policy Forum (GPF), an independent policy watchdog that monitors the work of the United Nations and scrutinises global policy-making.
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‘If citizens are not able to recognise what is going on and mobilise, Romania will very likely join the club of ‘illiberal democracies’ of the region’

Interviews
The special theme of the 2018 State of Civil Society Report will be ‘reimagining democracy’.
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‘Even the most progressive UN agencies have become vulnerable to the threat of corporate capture; fortunately, there are precedents of the UN tackling this kind of challenge’

Interviews
As the 2017 State of Civil Society Report identified, private sector influence on international governance is an increasing civil society concern.
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Armenia: ‘For the quality of democracy to improve, judicial independence must be guaranteed and labour rights need further protection’

Interviews
Elections held in Armenia in 2017 resulted in the ruling party holding onto power, but were marred by allegations of fraud, including vote-buying and misuse of state resources.
Featured

Making progress, preventing regress: civil society at the Human Rights Council

Interviews
We asked Phil Lynch, Director of International Service for Human Rights, to look back at the past year’s experience of civil society engagement with the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Featured

Blocage de l'accès internet au Cameroun prive la société civile des ressources essentielles

Interviews
English Le Cameroun a vu l'État imposer toute une série de restrictions aux droits fondamentaux de la société civile en 2017, notamment une fermeture d'Internet de quatre mois dans les régions anglophones du pays en réponse aux protestations contre la marginalisation de ces régions.
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‘Threats to women’s and LGBTI rights are threats to democracy; any retrogression is unacceptable’

Interviews
Recent years have seen an apparently growing tendency for anti-rights groups to seek to claim the space for civil society, including at the intergovernmental level.
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‘Civil society must increase the pressure so even countries that aren’t part of the Arms Trade Treaty feel compelled to abide by it’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks to Anna Macdonald, Director of the Control Arms Secretariat, which leads a global civil society coalition comprising over 300 partners in all regions of the world working for international arms control.
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‘The democratic revolution is currently in hibernation; from a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate Egypt’s democracy as below zero’

Interviews
Ahead of the publication of the 2018 State of Civil Society Report on the theme of ‘reimagining democracy’, we are interviewing civil society activists and leaders about their work to promote democratic governance, and the challenges they encounter in doing so.
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‘Solo un gobierno auténticamente democrático podrá enfrentar seriamente el problema del cambio climático’

Interviews
English CIVICUS conversa con Enrique de León, dirigente del Comité Nacional de Lucha Contra el Cambio Climático (CNLCC), una organización de la sociedad civil dominicana que lucha por la desaceleración del calentamiento global.
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México: En una democracia, no es posible que desaparezcan 43 estudiantes y todo siga igual

Interviews
English CIVICUS conversa con Ana Cristina Ruelas, Directora de la oficina de ARTICLE 19 para México y Centroamérica.
Featured

‘It is for civil society to step in and fill the void on human rights and good governance issues’

Interviews
Ahead of the publication of the 2018 State of Civil Society Report on the theme of ‘reimagining democracy’, we are interviewing civil society activists and leaders about their work to promote democratic governance, and the challenges they encounter in doing so.
Featured

‘Dutch citizens feel a major disconnect from politics’

Interviews
The special theme of the 2018 State of Civil Society Report will be ‘reimagining democracy’.
Featured

Nobody has made any attempt to shield Yemeni civil society organisations from impact of armed conflict

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks to Radhya Almutawakel, chairperson of Mwatana Organization for Human Rights, an independent Yemeni human rights organisation.
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Closure of civic space constitutes an existential threat to independent civil society in Bahrain

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks to Michael Payne (left), Director of Advocacy, and Sam Jones (right), a researcher at Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB).
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‘All governments agree – at least nominally - that a world without nuclear weapons is a desirable goal; it’s time to hold them to their words’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks to Daniel Högsta, Network Coordinator with the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), a broad, inclusive campaign focused on mobilising civil society around the world to promote the negotiation of a global nuclear weapon ban treaty.
Featured

‘The government is in fact listening to civil society, just not to the progressive side of it’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks to Horace Levy, the director of Jamaicans for Justice, a non-profit, non-partisan, non-violent citizens’ rights action organisation that advocates for good governance and improvements in state accountability and transparency.
Featured

Kenya’s fresh election lights up Africa with hope

Interviews
On 26 October 2017, Kenya returns to the polls after the Supreme Court declared the election held on 8 August 2017 null and void.
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‘La sociedad civil trabaja por una democracia no solo más representativa sino también más participativa’

Interviews
English CIVICUS conversa con Ramiro Orias, abogado y defensor de derechos humanos boliviano.
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South African NGO scores legal victory in limiting the influence of ‘big money’ on democracy

Interviews
A South African NGO My Vote Counts recently won a court case in which it asked that political parties must be compelled to publicly reveal their sources of funds.
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Les manifestants se transforment en milliers de personnes qui battent la fermeture d'Internet

Interviews
Read the interview in English  CIVICUS parle avec KEPOMEY Koffi Dela Franck de l'organisation non gouvernementale Concertation Nationale de la Société Civile au Togo des récentes manifestations dans le pays sur les limites du mandat présidentiel.
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The Political Parties Bill is ‘poison for Zambia’s ailing democracy’

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks to Zambian human rights defender McDonald Chipenzi.
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NGO soldiers on giving holistic care to rape survivors in DRC

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks to Julienne Lusenge, director of SOFEPADI (Solidarite Feminine pour la Paix et le Development Integral), an NGO based in the Democratic Republic of Congo which supports and empowers women and girls who are rape and domestic violence survivors.
Featured

Liberian rural communities face ‘David vs Goliath’ battle with multinationals

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks to a Liberian activist about the invasions by multinational companies into community and indigenous lands.
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Dire situation for journalists and civil society in Turkey

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks to Huseyin Hurmali, President of the Journalists and Writers Foundation about the difficult environment for journalists in Turkey.
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Cultural barriers are lifting but legal and political obstacles still hinder gender equality in Chile

Interviews
Spanish CIVICUS speaks to Natalia Muñoz Castillo, director of International Affairs at the Observatory Against Street Harassment (OCAC), a Chilean civil society organisation that works to make public spaces safe and egalitarian, making them accessible to the most vulnerable, and specifically to women, children, adolescents and LGBTI people.
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Hungary new Bill aims to silence civil society that criticises the state

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks to Anita Koncsik of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU) on the recent Bill on transparency of organisations receiving foreign funding.
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Advocating for women’s sexual and reproductive rights in Peru, a risky fight against powerful enemies

Interviews
Spanish CIVICUS speaks to María Ysabel Cedano, Director of DEMUS –Study for the Defense of Women’s Rights, a Peruvian feminist organisation that since 1987 defends human rights, and particularly women’s sexual and reproductive rights, by promoting their free exercise and questioning the hegemonic cultural paradigm on women and their sexuality.
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Omani human rights activist silenced and pushed into exile

Interviews
CIVICUS interviews Habiba Al Hinai a human rights defender from Oman who had to leave the country for her own safety.
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Closure of Himal magazine part of ongoing onslaught on free expression in the South Asia region

Interviews
CIVICUS speaks to Aunohita Mojumdar the editor of Himal Southasian, a review magazine of politics and culture based in Nepal and run by the not-for-profit Southasia Trust.
Featured

Bolivian government using law and force to cow civil society into silence

Interviews
Spanish CIVICUS speaks to Marco Antonio Gandarillas, Director of the Centre of Information and Documentation Bolivia (CEDIB), a human rights organisation founded in 1970 with the aim of providing information and consulting services with a critical eye on the social reality of Bolivia and Latin America.
Featured

Togo’s violations of the press are out of step with democratic norms

Interviews
French CIVICUS speaks to Koffi Déla Frack Kepomey, the executive director of Concertation Nationale de la Société Civile du Togo (CNSC-Togo) concerning the recent closure of a television and radio station by the regulatory authority as well as the torture of a journalist.
Featured

Worker’s rights activism and human rights activism must be linked

Interviews
Shawna Bader-Blau, executive director of the Solidarity Center, the largest worker rights organisation based in the United States speaks to CIVICUS about challenges facing workers, Solidarity Center’s work and the response of professional NGOs to worker’s rights.
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Malawi makes good reforms on civic space but new NGO Policy sidelines human rights CSOs

Interviews
CIVICUS interviews, the Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitations’ Fletcher Simwaka about the state of civic space in Malawi and the new NGO policy.
Featured

Egyptian women's rights defenders risk life in prison

Interviews
Azza Soliman and Mozn Hassan have both been working to improve women's rights in Egypt.
Featured

It’s not all doom and gloom on the ICC and Africa

Interviews
At the recent summit of the African Union (AU), states adopted what appeared to be a plan to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), the global body that prosecutes grave crimes and challenges impunity.
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Colombian activists: ‘We are paying with our lives to defend water’

Interviews
Spanish CIVICUS speaks to Carlos Andrés Santiago, spokesperson of CORDATEC, an organisation that defends water, the territory and the ecosystems of San Martín, in the Colombian region of Cesar.
Featured

Zambia’s media under siege

Interviews
Following reported violations on the press in Zambia that have included the closing of a newspaper and two radio stations, CIVICUS speaks to Wilson Pondamali a Zambian freelance investigative journalist and media activist to detail the situation 1.
Featured

Letter to Dr. Angela Merkel ahead of visit to Cairo

Interviews
24 February 2017 Dr Angela Merkel Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Willy-Brandt-Straße 1 10557 Berlin   Subject: Your visit to Cairo, 2-3 March 2017, amidst clampdown on human rights in Egypt Dear Chancellor Merkel,
Featured

Claiming the space for women in Argentina, one step at a time

Interviews
Spanish CIVICUS speaks to Ana Correa, a member of the organising group of #NiUnaMenos, a movement that has held massive protests against gender-based violence in Argentina.
Featured

Closed and repressed: No space for democracy to take root in Eritrea

Interviews
CIVICUS interviews a human rights defender from Eritrea, who speaks about the nature of the government and its complete disregard for fundamental human rights.
Featured

Shock and sadness spurs anti-Trump protestors

Interviews
Ahead of the inauguration of Donald Trump as president of the United States of America, activists and civil society are mobilising protests against the new establishment.
Featured

Syrian civil society not being heard by international donors

Interviews
CIVICUS asked Nibal Salloum, program manager at the Syrian peace-building organisation Nuon, about the situation for civil society in Syria and the challenges faced working in a conflict area.

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