Civil society groups urge Laos, Thailand to investigate enforced disappearances, reveal fate of Sombath Somphone and Od Sayavong On the seventh anniversary of the enforced disappearance of Lao civil society leader Sombath Somphone, we, the undersigned organizations, urge the Lao and Thai governments to investigate enforced disappearances, and demand Vientiane finally reveal Sombath’s whereabouts and ensure justice for him and his family.

Starting on 15 November 2019, mass protests have erupted in Iran in response to a three-fold rise in petrol costs.

 بالعربية We, the undersigned human rights organisations, call on the Iraqi government to immediately cease the use of lethal and excessive force against protesters.

A wave of social protests has engulfed Latin America and the Caribbean, with people in Ecuador, Haiti, Chile, Bolivia and Colombia taking to the streets to demand their rights More often than not, these protests have been violently suppressed Human Rights institutions have denounced heavy repression and excessive use of force throughout the region   Global civil society alliance, CIVICUS condemns the violent response by security forces to the genuine demands of demonstrators in several countries in Latin America and the Caribbean who have taken to the streets to protest against deteriorating socio-economic conditions, corruption and unaccountable governance.

بالعربية Beirut – To mark the 6th International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, on 02 November 2019, which was approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations at its 68th session in 2013, 18 NGOs called for immediate actions at the conclusion of an event in Beirut entitled "No to impunity for the crimes committed against journalists in the Arab region.

بالعربية The Iraqi government has stepped up its violent crackdown on peaceful demonstrators, including human rights defenders and other activists, as the campaign of mass arrests and fatal attacks continues.

Five new members recently joined the CIVICUS Youth Action Team (YAT).

بالعربية “I plan to act quickly to revoke Omar Barghouti’s resident status in Israel” Arye Deri, Israel’s Interior Minister, 6 October 2019 On 6 October 2019, Israeli Interior Minister Arye Deri announced that he is working towards revoking the residency status of Palestinian resident and human rights defender Omar Barghouti.

Global rights alliance condemns the detention of Muhammad Ismail, a human rights activist and CIVICUS member who has been promoting human rights in Pakistan for more than a decade Ismail and his family have been facing months of harassment and intimidation This incident highlights the hostile environment for human rights defenders and others in Pakistan to exercise their freedom of expression CIVICUS, the global civil society alliance, is extremely concerned about the arbitrary detention of Muhammad Ismail, a human rights activist and CIVICUS member, and calls for his immediate release.

Last week (17 October), 14 new member states were elected to the 47-member state Human Rights Council for the 2020-2022 term.

Egypt, China (Hong Kong), Colombia, Guinea and Kazakhstan join global watchlist Escalating rights violations include arrests, abductions and assassinations of activists, as well as the persecution of journalists and media blackouts International community must pressure governments to end repression and bring perpetrators to account Five countries from Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America have been added to a watchlist of countries which have seen a rapid decline in fundamental freedoms in recent weeks and months.

Portuguese Open letter to the Government of Mozambique Your Excellency, We, the undersigned orgnisations, are deeply alarmed by the escalating crackdown on fundamental freedoms and the persecution of activists in the context of the upcoming presidential, legislative and provincial elections scheduled for 15 October 2019 in Mozambique.

The downgrade is based on an assessment of conditions for the exercise of the freedoms of association, peaceful assembly and expression on the CIVICUS Monitor.

ARABIC On October 12, 2019, which marks the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Saudi Association for Civil and Political Rights (ACPRA), the undersigned organisations call on Saudi authorities to immediately and unconditionally release all detained ACPRA members.

ARABIC The undersigned international, regional and Iraqi human rights organisations demand that the authorities in Iraq immediately uphold promises to put an end to violent reprisals against the popular protest movement taking place across the country, which has left over 100 people dead, with thousands more injured and hundreds detained.

Phnom Penh, 07 October 2019 - We, the undersigned civil society organisations strongly condemn the decision by the Municipal Court judge to continue the investigation into unsubstantiated espionage charges against Yeang Sothearin and Uon Chhin.

Kathmandu/Bangkok/Paris/Geneva, 4 October 2019: Today completes two months of the unprecedented communication blockade in Jammu and Kashmir, India.

On 2 October 2018, Jamal Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to obtain official documents in order to get married, but he did not make it out alive.

ARABIC (Geneva, September 17, 2019) – The United Nations Human Rights Council should use the upcoming review of Egypt’s human rights records to address unprecedented levels of repression, 17 organizations including Human Rights Watch said today in an open letter to the council’s member countries.

Arabic    President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Address: Pasteur St.

CIVICUS, and the Colombian social impact startup, Innpactia, released the report, Access to Resources for Civil Society Organisations in Latin America: Facts and Challenges, which presents a challenging funding landscape for CSOs in Latin America.

Read it in Portuguese | Italian JOINT OPEN LETTER Your Holiness, Pope Francis Apostolic Palace 00120 Vatican City Re: Open letter on human rights to Pope Francis from Civil Society groups on his visit to Mozambique Your Holiness, Pope Francis We, the undersigned, are writing as a group of non-governmental organisations working to promote and defend human rights in many countries around the world, including Mozambique.

To Permanent Representatives of Member and Observer States of the United Nations Human Rights Council, Geneva, Switzerland Excellencies, Ahead of the 42nd regular session of the UN Human Rights Council (“HRC” or “the Council”), we, the undersigned civil society organisations, urge you to ensure the Council takes action to address serious human rights violations and abuses that have been and continue to be committed in Sudan, and to support systemic reforms in the country.

To Members and Observer States of the United Nations Human Rights Council Dear Excellency, The undersigned civil society organizations, representing groups working within and outside Cambodia to advance human rights, rule of law, and democracy, are writing to alert your government to an ongoing human rights crisis in Cambodia and to request your support for a resolution ensuring strengthened scrutiny of the human rights situation in the country at the upcoming 42nd session of the UN Human Rights Council (the “Council”).

Over 75 organisations call for mandate of Group of Eminent Experts to be renewed, emphasising violations against human rights defenders Arabic We, the undersigned more than 75 international, regional and Yemeni CSOs, call for the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) to extend and broaden the mandate of the Group of Eminent Experts on Yemen (GEE), including a thorough investigation into specific violations against human rights defenders, journalists and bloggers, and the closure of civic space.

Bangkok, 16 August 2019 – We, the undersigned civil society organisations, express our deep concerns on the escalating violence in Hong Kong and urge the authorities to ensure conditions for peaceful assembly and association are present, and the protestors to exercise their rights to protest peacefully.

FRENCH To Permanent Representatives of Member and Observer States of the United Nations Human Rights Council, Geneva, Switzerland Excellencies, Ahead of the 42nd session of the UN Human Rights Council (“HRC” or “the Coun­cil”), we, the undersigned national, regional, and international civil society organisations, write to call on your delegation to support a resolution extending the mandate of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) on Burundi for a further year, until September 2020.

by H.

Washington, D.

Global #humanrights organisations condemn the Equatorial Guinea government’s closure of a prominent rights NGO, part of its long-running attack on fundamental freedoms there https://t.

Global civil society alliance, CIVICUS, has welcomed the announcement of a peace deal that has been reached in Sudan, between the Transitional Military Council and opposition leaders but has warned that all parties need to commit to the agreement’s terms for the transition to be effective.

Pusat KOMAS and global civil society alliance, CIVICUS, welcome the Malaysian government’s efforts to make amendments to the Peaceful Assembly Act, which regulates public assemblies and protests.

26 June 2019, Bangkok/Colombo/Dublin/Geneva/Johannesburg/London/New Delhi/New York/Paris We, the undersigned, strongly condemn the filing of criminal charges against Indian NGO ‘Lawyers Collective’, its Senior Advocate Anand Grover, and other representatives.

📢 Desde @CIVICUSespanol condenamos y exigimos el fin de la brutal represión ejercida contra las protestas pacíficas en #Honduras por parte de las fuerzas de seguridad de @JuanOrlandoH.

FRENCH We, the undersigned human rights organisations, call on UN Special Rapporteurs, Members of the European Parliament, and representatives in national Parliaments of the European Union to urgently intervene and communicate with the Egyptian authorities to immediately release jailed activist Malak Al-Kashif, who was arrested for expressing her views on Facebook.

Joint Statement from CIVICUS and Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) The arrest and ongoing detention of award-winning author and poet Shakthika Sathkumara on spurious charges are a clear violation of his right to freedom of expression, CIVICUS, the global civil society alliance and the Asian Human Right Commission (AHRC), said today ahead of his next court hearing on 18 June.

Pakistani authorities must end their judicial persecution of human rights defender Gulalai Ismail, global civil society alliance CIVICUS said today.

Arrests & detentions for being a member of the political opposition in #Cambodia.

            Bangladesh authorities must immediately release human rights defender Mohammad Abdul Kaium, who has been allegedly tortured in custody during his arbitrary detention.

Dr Shireen M MazariFederal Minister for Human RightsMinistry of Human Rights9th Floor, New Pak Secretariat (Kohsar Block)Sector F-5, Islamabad, Pakistan Concerns regarding civic space violations against the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) CIVICUS: the World Alliance for Citizen Participation is a global alliance of civil society organisations (CSOs) and activists dedicated to strengthening citizen action and civil society around the world.

  Joint Statement: We, the undersigned organisations, strongly denounce the recent death threats addressed to Karapatan Secretary General, Cristina Palabay in the Philippines.

French A Civil Society Call to Stand Together to Defend Peoples’ Voices for a Just and Sustainable World Reverse the Closing and Shrinking Space for Civil Society Stop the Increasing Attacks on Human Rights Defenders and the Undermining of Democratic Participation Renew the Prospects for an Inclusive Agenda 2030 and the Full Realization of the SDGs Launched in Belgrade, April 8, 2019 We, leaders from Global Civil Society, coming from civil society organizations, activists and campaigners from all parts of the World, on this day in Belgrade call on international and national civil society to stand together and declare aloud: Enough is enough! Stop the relentless attacks on civil society, social leaders and human rights defenders! The global community is currently moving down a path that will leave hundreds of millions of people behind; real and transformative progress towards achieving the systemic changes for people and planet promised by Agenda 2030 will not be possible without a fully engaged civil society and people’s genuine participation through their organizations and communities.

Imprisoned human rights defender and blogger Ahmed Mansoor has been on hunger strike since 17 March 2019 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and is in very poor condition.

This April, five new members joined the CIVICUS Youth Action Team (YAT).

The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) and CIVICUS, the global civil society alliance, are extremely concerned by a new bill that has been proposed by the Singaporean authorities to counter false news.

Global civil society alliance CIVICUS was pleased to announce the new elected CIVICUS board during the International Civil Society Week - ICSW in Serbia, 8 -12 April 2019.

Belgrade, Serbia – Civil society organisation (CSO) representatives, development workers, activists, and campaigners from all over the world are gathering in Belgrade, Serbia on April 8, 2019 for the Civil Society Summit as part of International Civil Society Week.

  Joint letter condemns the criminalisation of human rights defenders Claudia Samayoa and José Martínez in Guatemala We the undersigned organizations are gravelly alarmed by the ongoing, targeted criminalization of human rights defenders in Guatemala including the recent judicial harassment of defenders Mrs.

Women in the United Arab Emirates continue to face incredible barriers to their rights to civic freedoms by state and non-state actors.

  Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Sudan, and Venezuela join global watchlist Escalating rights violations include killings, attacks on protesters, media restrictions and arbitrary detentions of human rights defenders International community must pressure governments to end repression Five countries from Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Latin America have been added to a watchlist of countries which have seen a rapid decline in fundamental freedoms in recent weeks and months.