Today, 19 September 2022, marks one year in detention for two young Chinese human rights defenders: Huang Xueqin, an independent journalist and key actor in China’s #MeToo movement, and Wang Jianbing, a labour rights advocate.

  CIVICUS, the global civil society alliance and Front Line Defenders, call on the Pakistan government to immediately comply with recommendations of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) on the case of human rights defender Muhammad Ismail and put an end to all acts of harassment against him and his family.

Global civil society alliance, CIVICUS, expresses serious concerns over the sentencing of Viasna human rights defenders, Maria Rabkova and Andrey Chapiuk by the Minsk City Court this afternoon.

The decision by the Prime Minister’s Office of Bangladesh to uphold the de-registration of prominent human rights organisation Odhikar is appalling and demonstrates the government’s ongoing efforts to crush the organisation and stifle human rights work in the country, CIVICUS, the global civil society alliance said today.

    We are pleased to announce that the CIVICUS Board has elected Dylan Mathews as Board Chair and Sonia Kwami as Board Vice-Chair.

In marking the five-year commemoration of the genocide committed against the Rohingya in 2017, 384 civil society organisations reaffirm our commitment to continue to stand in solidarity with and seek justice for the Rohingya, to ensure the full restoration of their rights in Myanmar, and to end the impunity of the Myanmar military.

Amid Israel’s escalating attacks targeting their work, a group of more than 150 Palestinian, regional, and international organisations express our full solidarity with the designated seven leading Palestinian civil society organisations, Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Al-Haq Law in the Service of Man (Al-Haq), Bisan Center for Research and Development, Defense for Children International-Palestine (DCI-P), Health Work Committees (HWC),the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC), and the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees (UPWC).

One year after Ismail Sabri took over as the Prime Minister of Malaysia, ARTICLE 19 and CIVICUS are concerned about systematic attempts by his government to restrict and undermine fundamental freedoms, especially freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

King of Bahrain, Shaikh Hamad bin 'Issa Al Khalifa Crown Prince and Prime Minister, Shaikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa Your Majesties, We, the undersigned, are writing to you concerning Dr.

The use of violence and the killing of demonstrators to disperse ongoing protests in Guinea entrenches impunity and is a major setback for the fragile transition, global civil society alliance CIVICUS said today.

Amnesty International and CIVICUS call on the Fiji government to drop contempt charges against a lawyer in Fiji for the exercise of his right to freedom of expression.

CIVICUS, a global alliance of civil society organisations and activists dedicated to strengthening citizen action and civil society throughout the world is seriously concerned about a recent decision by the Ugandan authorities to suspend the operations of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), an organisation that has for years championed the rights of LGBT people in Uganda.

We, the undersigned organizations, condemn the Sri Lankan authorities' violent crackdown and increasing reprisals against peaceful protesters in Sri Lanka.

The undersigned civil society organisations condemn the blocking by the Egyptian authorities of three links to access the Al-Manassa website within approximately 72 hours, starting from Thursday, 14 July.

The joint European Union (EU)-India press release, which provides a summary of the topics discussed during the 10th EU-India human rights dialogue which took place on 15 July 2022 in New Delhi, fails to adequately address pressing issues of security and reprisals faced by human rights defenders in India, five human rights organisations said today.

We, the undersigned, strongly condemn the execution carried out by the military junta against four pro-democracy activists in Myanmar.

The government of Malawi must stop the clampdown on peaceful protests and respect the rights of its citizens to voice concerns which is in line with the country’s national and international human rights obligations, said the global civil society alliance CIVICUS, today.

The undersigned 10 organizations call on the government of Maldives to repeal or amend the deeply problematic provision in the Evidence Act (Act No.

Calls for the release of Eswatini MPs Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube 25 July marks their one-year anniversary in detention  MPs feature in  #StandAsMyWitness global human rights campaign Regional SADC conference to address political unrest postponed Global civil society alliance CIVICUS calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Eswatini members of parliament Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube ahead of their one-year anniversary in detention.

Joint Statement Five human rights organizations strongly condemned the brutal attack against unarmed peaceful protesters by Sri Lankan forces in Colombo in the early hours of 22 July 2022 .

CIVICUS, a global civil society alliance, is concerned with the declaration of a state of emergency by the prime minister’s office in Sri Lanka on 13 July and again by the Acting President on 18 July.

Statement in Indonesian Joint statement: Hold public consultations on the revised draft of the Criminal Code and repeal restrictive provisions We, the undersigned organizations, are alarmed by provisions in the draft amendments of the Indonesian Criminal Code, recently made public, that will negatively impact civic space and fundamental freedoms in the country.

Arabic 36 organisations urge Egyptian authorities to end crackdown on civil society organisations and peaceful protests for a successful COP27 Egyptian authorities should ease their grip on civic space and uphold the rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly to enable a successful climate summit, known as the COP27, in Egypt, 36 organisations said today.

The government of Sierra Leone must stop the brutal repression of peaceful protests and respect the rights of its citizens to engage in demonstrations which is in line with the country’s international human rights obligations, said the global civil society alliance CIVICUS today.

CIVICUS, the global civil society alliance, condemns the recent arrest of Teesta Setalvad and calls on the government of India to stop targeting human rights defenders.

Seven (7) human rights organisations urgently call on the Singaporean authorities to drop their criminal investigations of human rights defenders Kirsten Han and Rocky Howe and cease harassing them through legal processes for their work.

The use of violence to restrict ongoing protests in Ecuador and the refusal of the government to heed the demands of the protesters further threatens fundamental freedoms, Global civil society alliance CIVICUS said today.

Published at the halfway point of 2022, the State of Civil Society Report shines a light on a time of immense upheaval and contestation.

Portuguese Authorities in Brazil must thoroughly investigate the brutal murders of Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira and journalist Dom Phillips in the Javari Valley (Amazonas state) and act to protect Indigenous territories and defenders, global civil society alliance, CIVICUS said today.

Arabic Human rights defender Mohamed El-Baqer must be released immediately and unconditionally, stated 19 human rights organisations.

Content note: this statement contains references to violence, murder, and potential war crimes.

Seven human rights organisations expressed concerns about the deteriorating health of the activist and Delhi University professor Gokarakonda Naga Saibaba in Nagpur Central Jail, Maharashtra State, and called on the Indian authorities to provide urgent access to health care.

 CIVICUS joins call to the European Commission for the development of a European Civil Society Strategy Ms Ursula von der Leyen President of the European Commission cc: Ms Vera Jourova Vice-President of the European Commission Mr Didier Reynders Commissioner for Justice We, civil society organisations acting at local, national and European level, call on the European Commission to include in the work programme of 2023 a proposal for a European Civil Society Strategy1.

CIVICUS calls on the Zimbabwean authorities to immediately release Obert Masaraure, an activist and human rights defender.

CIVICUS, a global civil society alliance, is alarmed by the ongoing judicial harassment against members of three human rights groups that have been accused of perjury for seeking legal protection from the Supreme Court against government harassment and intimidation.

Russian / Русский Failure of authorities to independently and impartially investigate the Bloody January' 2022 protests, when 200 people were killed and thousands injured Widespread allegations of arbitrary detentions of peaceful protesters, torture and ill-treatment and due process violations in connection with the January events The January events used as a pretext by authorities to target civil society activists, opposition supporters, and journalists Kazakhstan has been downgraded from Obstructed to Repressed  by the CIVICUS Monitor.

CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation and the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) are extremely alarmed by the decision of the government to arbitrarily revoke the registration of Odhikar, a leading human rights organisation in Bangladesh.

CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation and Asia Democracy Network are alarmed by the ongoing judicial harassment against youth pro-democracy activists in Thailand for exercising their rights to expression and peaceful assembly.

We, the undersigned organisations, are deeply concerned about the situation of stateless Rohingya refugee and human rights defender Zafar Ahmad Abdul Ghani, President of Myanmar Ethnic Rohingya Human Rights Organization (MERHROM), who has been vilified and has received death threats since April 2020 after he was falsely accused of demanding Malaysian citizenship and equal rights for the Rohingya in Malaysia during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Today, we mark a year since the arrest of human rights defender and lawyer Chow Hang Tung.

Joint letter calling on the President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to intervene immediately in favour of the release of prisoners of conscience.

Global civil society alliance CIVICUS calls on the Ethiopian authorities to immediately release 11 journalists and media workers arrested and detained since May 19 in Amhara state and the capital Addis Ababa for doing their work.

The decision made by Guinea's transitional authorities to ban public demonstrations in public spaces for the duration of the transitional period seeks to undermine further the right to protest and prevent Guineans from expressing their views about issues affecting them.

Ahead of the next appeals hearing in the case involving Malagasy environmental human rights defender Jeannot Randriamanana scheduled for 14 June 2022, the global civil society alliance CIVICUS calls on the authorities to drop all charges against him and stop persecuting human rights defenders.

CIVICUS calls on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) authorities to immediately release journalists and activists Patrick Lola and Christian Bofaya, arrested for doing their job.

Human rights defender Khurram Parvez, 44, is the Programme Coordinator of the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) which is a coalition of various campaign, research and advocacy organisations based in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir which monitor and investigate human right abuses.

CIVICUS joins 37 other organisations today in announcing a 10-day campaign against the increasing government repression of individuals and groups defending human rights in Algeria.

We, the following 32 human rights organisations, call on the Cambodian authorities to revoke the Sub-Decree on the Establishment of the National Internet Gateway (NIG).

CIVICUS, the global civil society alliance, calls on Sri Lankan security forces to refrain from using excessive force and prevent further deaths and injuries amid increasing violence around protests and guarantee a safe and enabling space for peaceful protesters to voice their concerns.

Decision on humanitarian assistance on Myanmar must include all related parties to avoid aid weaponisation by the junta We, the 765 undersigned Myanmar regional and international organisations, are gravely concerned by the outcome of the Consultative Meeting on ASEAN Humanitarian Assistance to Myanmar that puts the military junta in control of humanitarian aid distribution in Myanmar.