CIVICUS Lens: 30 July 2026

JULY 2026 HIGHLIGHTS

Welcome to the latest edition of the CIVICUS Lens newsletter, from CIVICUS, the global civil society alliance.

This month we focus on anti-rights backlash and civil society response. In reaction to growing criminalisation of LGBTQI+ lives and bans on long-established marches, we discuss how this year’s Pride season has necessarily been one of protest and resistance.

Women’s rights remain under assault as well. Civil society interviews describe how in Afghanistan, new laws further shrink public space for women, while in Iran, the theocratic regime has used the war to intensify its repression of women human rights defenders. Around the world, gains from decades-long struggles against female genital mutilation are being threatened by funding cuts and anti-rights campaigns. But civil society is mobilising to defend progress in eliminating this egregious rights violation.

The fundamental right to life is under attack too. Iran is executing around two people a day, Israel has made hanging the default sentence for Palestinians convicted of terrorist attacks and several US states are reviving firing squads. Civil society’s campaigns for abolition are as vital as ever.

This month we also highlight corrupt capture of institutions in Guatemala, troubling new powers to annul elections in Mexico, and protests in Taiwan against policies campaigners argue weaken defences against China. In addition, we focus on the communities confronting the datacentres behind the AI boom, with their vast thirst for energy and water, and protests against a Trump-linked luxury resort on protected land in Albania.

For more analysis of civil society action, visit our website, and check out our 2026 State of Civil Society Report.

If you have any feedback or think there’s something we should cover, contact us at . Please share this newsletter with your contacts and encourage them to subscribe. If you like what we’re doing, please join the resistance against autocracy and extremism by becoming a CIVICUS member. Thank you!

ARTICLES

Thanks to sustained advocacy, campaigning, community organising and litigation, female genital mutilation is in retreat across most of the countries where it is practised. The sharpest declines have come where survivors have been able to speak out and affected communities have been able to lead the response. But progress is being challenged by funding cuts and an anti-rights backlash. The commitment to eliminate the practice by 2030 is badly off track. Every year of delay means four million additional girls being subjected to this egregious human rights violation.

Iran is executing an average of two people a day. Israel has made hanging the default sentence for Palestinians convicted of deadly attacks. Some US states are bringing back firing squads. The death penalty violates the fundamental right to life wherever it’s imposed, and these three states show how readily it can be used to silence dissent, deepen exclusion and demonstrate political strength. While fewer states than ever are carrying out executions, those that do are killing more people. And while some states are moving to further limit the death penalty, others are re-embracing it. Civil society’s campaigns for abolition, in the face of harassment and vilification, remain vital.

Datacentre construction is accelerating as tech companies race to meet the insatiable AI demand for computing power. But awareness is growing of the resulting climate and environmental costs, as datacentres consume vast amounts of electricity and water. The boom is backed by intensive lobbying from tech and fossil fuel companies, and governments are rushing to offer subsidies. Civil society is, however, scoring victories in this unequal battle, through local protests, public campaigning, litigation and alliance-building. As campaign successes mount, restrictions threaten campaigners’ ability to organise. The rights of communities to mobilise and speak out must be respected.

For a movement that spent decades measuring its progress in newly recognised rights, the 2026 Pride season is telling a harder story. In country after country, backlash is clawing back ground previously gained. Governments are criminalising LGBTQI+ identities and relationships, long-established marches are being banned and companies that once backed Pride are quietly pulling out. The huge crowds that gathered in the countries where it’s still possible to do so mobilised as much in protest as in celebration, reclaiming Pride’s resistance roots. For those who can gather freely, resistance also brings the duty to march on behalf of those unable to.

INTERVIEWS