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	Public media should not lie by OSCE, DW, AFP, agencies   July 2026   All Hungarian news bulletins and political programs broadcast by Hungary's public television and radio channels on July 7th carried the following message:   "Public media should not lie. We are sorry for doing it for so long. Public media will now be reformed so they will be independent and trustworthy. Our news service is currently suspended. Stay tuned!"   The country's former prime minister, Viktor Orban, who was ousted in April after 16 years in power, had tightly controlled state media.   Reforms to the media were a key campaign promise of Hungary's new Prime Minister Peter Magyar, who described the announcement as "marking the end of propaganda broadcasts on public media platforms".. "They lied at night, they lied during the day, they lied on every wavelength. That is now over," he added.   Magyar’s Tisza party swept the elections in April, winning a two-thirds supermajority in parliament on the promise of “regime change” and a clean break with the Orban era.   Magyar said after the election that he wanted to create “a truly balanced, objective news service”. In one of his first decrees as prime minister, he ordered a “comprehensive and immediate” review of public service media ⁠and its financing.   Tuesday’s suspension of the broadcasters came shortly after Magyar’s government ​replaced the management of state TV and ⁠radio. Besides public media, the new administration has also targeted private outlets owned by Orban-allied business people. At TV2, one of Hungary’s top private broadcasters, the main news anchors have been replaced and its news director pushed out since Peter Magyar’s election victory.   Peter Magyar said that a majority of Hungarian media had been requisitioned by Orban allies, insulting him and his party with lies and not allowing him an appearance on state TV since September 2024. Mr. Magyar has committed to forming a new broadcast authority to ensure press freedom.   On taking power in 2010, Orban and Fidesz systematically turned state media into government mouthpieces, weaponising outlets to promote themselves and their allies while vilifying purported enemies including the philanthropist George Soros and the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.   Hungary fell to 74th place in 2026 from 23rd in 2010 in Reporters Without Borders’ press freedom index, as government efforts left much of the country in a parallel information reality.   During the election campaign, state media demonised Magyar as a puppet of Brussels, an absentee father and a traitor. As a candidate, he vowed to suspend state media coverage, describing it as a “factory of lies” whose coverage was akin to propaganda from North Korea and Nazi-era Germany.   Under Orban, an estimated 80% of the media landscape was controlled by Fidesz loyalists, including state media and private outlets. They were set against embattled independent media, whose journalists nevertheless uncovered scandal after scandal.   The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) found that the State media agency MTVA's coverage had been systematically skewed, with news programmes "openly and disproportionately" supporting the ruling parties' narrative while marginalising or negatively portraying opposition voices. The OSCE said the broadcaster had failed to provide a level playing field for political actors during the recent election campaign. "Opposition politicians were given almost no opportunity to speak in the news broadcasts, or if they did, they were discredited with editorial commentaries," it said:   http://odihr.osce.org/odihr/663241 http://www.dw.com/en/hungary-public-media-reform-begins-with-black-screen-apology/a-77880569 http://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/07/hungary-public-media-tv-radio-suspend-broadcasting-viktor-orban-peter-magyar   * The International Criminal Court welcomes the decision of Hungary to remain a State Party to the Rome Statute.   In support of the Statement of the Presidency of the Assembly of States Parties on 25 May 2026, the International Criminal Court notes with appreciation the decision of Hungary to withdraw its notification of withdrawal from the Rome Statute with immediate effect, as formally notified by the Government of Hungary to the Secretary-General of the United Nations on 29 May 2026.   The Court welcomes this important decision which signals Hungary's renewed commitment to the Rome Statute, as well as towards the objective of ending impunity for the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole.   125 countries from all the regions of the world are States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The ICC is the first permanent, treaty-based, international criminal court established to help end impunity for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community, namely genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression.   http://www.icc-cpi.int/news/international-criminal-court-welcomes-decision-hungary-remain-state-party-rome-statute   July 2026   Israeli Government defies Supreme Court ruling on media regulation, by Laura Tingle. (ABC News)   A Trumpian clash between the Netanyahu government and Israel's most senior court is rapidly building into a major constitutional crisis.   The issue ultimately at stake is control of a television station that is critical of Benjamin Netanyahu's government, and follows other moves designed to clamp down on domestic and international media criticism of the government.   Netanyahu's government has also sought to limit the powers of the Supreme Court, a move in 2022 which sparked mass protests in Israel. The government has often cast both the judiciary and critical media as left-wing elitist institutions.   Opposition parties argue that, above and beyond the implications for the media, an unprecedented declaration by the government last weekend that it would defy a Supreme Court ruling on media regulation could signal its preparedness to do so on other issues, including the conduct of looming elections later this year.   "These developments suggest the latest clash is not an isolated legal disagreement, but part of a broader campaign to redefine the balance of power between Israel's democratic institutions," wrote Australian publication the Jewish Independent.   In the torrid world of Israeli politics, the current conflict between the government and the court is playing out as a story that reveals the deep ruptures in the halls of power in Jerusalem.   The current controversy relates to a ruling by Israel's Supreme Court decision last month that enables the Council of the Second Authority for Television and Radio, the commercial broadcasting regulatory body, to resume operations despite lacking a two-thirds quorum of members. It sounds like a pretty obscure issue to spark a constitutional crisis.   It was originally sparked by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi's move to replace the Second Authority's council and director, a move which could have cleared the way for a board stacked with political allies to approve ownership changes at Channel 13, which has been a long-term critic of the government.   The government had attempted to impose an alternative board of directors at the regulator. The Supreme Court ruled the alternative board illegal. When outgoing council members departed, the remaining council fell below the quorum required to operate legally.   The court ruled last month that the regulatory body must continue its work despite this shortage, preventing the minister from unilaterally replacing the board with political allies.   In a statement on Sunday, the government said last month's ruling was a clear case of judicial overreach, and Shlomo and Justice Minister Yariv Levin said the ruling would not be respected, with Levin saying "the court is not above the law and there is no anarchy here".   Israeli President Isaac Herzog, the Israeli attorney-general, and opposition party leaders have all attacked the government's declaration that it will defy the court's ruling.   "Statements calling for noncompliance with [High Court] rulings strike at the heart of the nation's unity," Herzog wrote. "Non-compliance with a court ruling is a red line that must not be crossed under any circumstances."   But the battle over the regulatory body is also a reflection of the government's wider attempts to control the domestic and international media, which have seen the country drop in the Press Freedom Index to 116th out of 180.   "The reason that the government actually objected [to the court ruling] so hard is the fact that they want to gain more power over the communication and media markets in Israel," said Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler, an expert on media and technology policy at the Israel Democracy Institute.   Israel has traditionally had a vibrant media sector. Television and radio stations include KAN, a publicly owned television station; Army Radio, the Israeli army's official station; Channel 12, a popular commercial TV channel; Channel 13, a government critic; and Channel 14, an ultranationalist right wing and often shrill supporter of the government, which has at times been accused of inciting war crimes by civil rights groups inside Israel.   Channel 14 has been exempted from several standard regulations covering fair news coverage and promotes the view that law enforcement and the judiciary are illegally targeting the prime minister.   The current government has taken a range of measures to clamp down or intimidate other more critical media.   Some of the measures it has taken may sound familiar to an Australian audience, particularly its attempts to constrain or intimidate the public broadcaster. And there are also familiar echoes of Donald Trump's attacks on the media in America.   Anat Saragusti, a veteran Israeli journalist and director of press freedom at the Israel Union of Journalists, says that since the current government took office, it has had a "well-crafted master plan to weaken the free press in the country".   This has included earlier pieces of legislation targeting the public broadcaster, KAN.   There is now legislation before the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, to dismantle the guaranteed independent funding structure of the KAN public broadcaster and instead force it to have its budget set, and potentially cut, by the government each year.   There has also been interference in the appointment of KAN board members, with only five of the 12 positions on the board filled. With seven votes needed for a quorum, the board is in limbo and cannot confirm its annual budget or appoint a new chief executive.   The government has also closed down the operations of the Qatar-based Al Jazeera in Israel. The Israeli cabinet also voted in December to close down the publicly funded Army Radio, which it said was critical of the IDF. This move too has been stymied by the Supreme Court.   These changes come on top of the conspicuous ban on foreign journalists entering the Gaza Strip, except when escorted by the IDF, under which they must comply with military censorship. The Israeli Union of Journalists is supporting the Foreign Press Association's attempts to overturn this ban.   "It's very intense," Saragusti says. "And now since we are getting into election year or months, you know, they're speeding up."   The government has also targeted critical media, including Israel's oldest newspaper Haaretz, using other editorial and financial means, including banning journalists from press events and banning government advertising in the newspaper.   Haaretz has been one of the few newspapers to criticise the large civilian death toll in Gaza, a subject rarely reported on or discussed in Israel.   Conferences have become a vital form of financial support for media around the world. The Netanyahu government refuses to take part in conferences organised by Haaretz.   Saragusti notes that Defence Minister Israel Katz has "called upon all the generals in the army not to cooperate with Haaretz's correspondents, not to give them any background talks or whatever" while Minister for National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir doesn't answer any requests for his comments from Haaretz correspondents.   "The minister of economics, who is the richest politician in Israel," she says, "sued Channel 12 news, because of an investigative piece about him, for 12 million shekels [$5.73 million] and also established a fund to help anybody who wants to sue Channel 12 news."   The Union of Journalists has taken legal action in the Supreme Court on both the treatment of Haaretz, and Army Radio, as well as in the most recent case about the media regulator.   There is also a very organised and orchestrated campaign against critical journalists on social media and on billboards.   Saragusti says journalists who cover Netanyahu's corruption trial have been particular targets and says journalists now face intimidation near their homes. "Some of them had to hire bodyguards," she says. "It really is very effective."   Despite having led his country into war on two fronts this year (against Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon), Netanyahu rarely gives interviews in Hebrew or opens his press conferences for questions, instead relying on pre-recorded video messages.   The consequences of these attempts of control have been sinister, critics say, particularly in Israeli media's coverage of the war in Gaza.   Saragusti says it has led "self-censorship" and "one-sided" coverage that "echoes the narrative of the IDF".   "The Israeli media's coverage was so biased. It was like a one-sided war," she says. "Nothing about Palestinians. It was praising the heroism of the IDF soldiers."   Saragusti argues that while the Israeli media have effectively made the sufferings of the Palestinians invisible, they still played a crucial role in reporting what happened on October 7 and afterwards, including putting pressure on the Israeli government.   "Journalists were the first to understand the scale of the massacre," she says. "Before the state agencies woke up and understood what's going on, it was the journalists who … drove into this area and were exposed to threats and life threats."   In the second phase of the attacks, she says it was journalists who were criticising "the state agencies that were not addressing any needs of the evacuated communities from the border who were subject to this event, this slaughter".   It took the government days to mobilise in support of the October 7 victims, she says.   Saragusti also says the Israeli media were "the only ones that put the hostages very high on the public agenda daily". "And if it was not for them, the government would throw it out the window … they didn't care about the hostages at all," she says. "But in terms of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza — silent."   Despite the government's pressure on the media, there is still a lively political debate taking place inside Israel.   The widespread unpopularity of the Netanyahu government means what is happening there is still discussed in the political and media realm, even with the absence of much detail about what has happened in Gaza, from those who don't approve of the war with Iran and Lebanon, to the majority who think neither has gone far enough, and to the many who argue the prime minister's actions are overwhelmingly designed to keep him in office and out of the hands of an anti-corruption investigation.   To Australian eyes though, there are mystifying elements to the internal debate.   For example, while there was little criticism of the actions of either settlers or the IDF against Palestinians in the West Bank, there was significant prominence given to stories about the desecration of statues of Jesus Christ by IDF soldiers in Lebanon, and their public chastisement from not reflecting the values of the Israeli defence forces.   "You could kill whole families, a tribe, and nobody would say anything," Saragusti says. "And suddenly, because of a statue of Jesus … this is the thing that you flag?   "It doesn't comply with the army ethics, yet in Gaza, they bombed universities, hospitals, schools."   Saragusti is a veteran of conflict reporting, including in Gaza and Lebanon. "I'm shocked to see that even the core muscle of curiosity that journalists need is completely numb," she says. "They immediately adopt the official narrative of the Israelis. And this is what is so disappointing for me."   The Netanyahu government's battles with the judiciary and the media have coalesced in this recent defiant declaration by the cabinet against the Supreme Court. It's not clear where the case will go next.   But it has highlighted the troubling decline of a free media in Israel and raised concerns about a government willing to defy a country's highest court. http://tinyurl.com/zy66pyj9
	Civic freedoms are the backbone of good governance and inclusive democracy by OHCHR, UNESCO, RSF, CIVICUS, agencies   Apr. 2026   2026 RSF Index: press freedom at a 25-year low   Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has released its 25th World Press Freedom Index at a time when political pressure on the press is intensifying, authoritarian tendencies are growing and the media market is heavily weakened. This year, the Index’s analysis highlights an alarming deterioration in the conditions for journalism in many parts of the world, despite some isolated improvements, as 100 out of 180 countries and territories have seen their press freedom score decline. Over half of the world’s countries now fall into the “difficult” or “very serious” categories for press freedom.   Since 2001, the expansion of increasingly restrictive legal arsenals — particularly those linked to national security policies — has been steadily eroding the right to information, even in democratic countries. The Index’s legal indicator has declined the most over the past year, a clear sign that journalism is increasingly criminalised worldwide. In the Americas, the situation has evolved significantly, with the United States dropping seven places and several Latin American countries sliding deeper into a spiral of violence and repression.   Anne Bocan, RSF Editorial Director:   “By providing a retrospective of the past 25 years, RSF isn’t just looking back — it’s looking squarely at the future with a simple question: how much longer will we tolerate the suffocation of journalism, the systematic obstruction of reporters and the continued erosion of press freedom? Although attacks on the right to information are more diverse and sophisticated, their perpetrators are now operating in plain sight.   Authoritarian states, complicit or incompetent political powers, predatory economic actors and under-regulated online platforms are directly and overwhelmingly responsible for the global decline in press freedom. Given this context, inaction is a form of endorsement.   It’s no longer enough just to state principles — effective measures to protect journalists are essential and must be seen as a catalyst for change. This starts with ending the criminalisation of journalism: the misuse of national security laws, SLAPPs, and the systematic obstruction of those who investigate, expose and name names. Current protection mechanisms are not strong enough; international law is being undermined and impunity is rife.   We need firm guarantees and meaningful sanctions. The ball is in the court of democracies and their citizens. It is up to them to stand in the way of those who seek to silence the press. The spread of authoritarianism isn’t inevitable".   http://rsf.org/en/2026-rsf-index-press-freedom-25-year-low http://rsf.org/en http://cpj.org/ http://www.ifj.org/ http://www.icij.org/ http://www.ipsnews.net/2026/05/press-freedom-a-story-of-lives-lost-budgets-slashed-status-eroded/ http://www.unesco.org/en/world-media-trends/2025/journalism-word-peace http://www.ohchr.org/en/statements-and-speeches/2026/05/world-press-freedom-day-2026-joint-statement http://www.ohchr.org/en/statements-and-speeches/2026/05/high-commissioner-turk-when-attacks-media-are-normalized-freedom http://europeanjournalists.org/blog/2026/05/03/world-press-freedom-day-protecting-public-service-media-as-critical-infrastructure-for-democracy/ http://europeanjournalists.org/blog/2026/05/05/world-press-freedom-day-six-years-of-monitoring-reveals-emerging-threats-against-media-freedom-in-europe/ http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/06/freedom-expression-must-not-be-treated-fodder-geopolitics-or-commodity-trade http://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/sessions-regular/session62/advance-versions/a-hrc-62-67-aev.pdf   Mar. 2026   We cannot allow a world without civil society, by Gina Romero - UN Special Rapporteur, Freedom of Assembly and of Association   A year has passed since a 90-day freeze on U.S. foreign assistance signaled the deepening of a structural dismantling of international solidarity. Today, the “existential threat” to the freedom of association I warned of in my report to last year’s UN General Assembly (A/80/219) is no longer a warning; it is a lived reality.   Thousands of civil society organizations (CSOs) worldwide have been reduced to their minimum or are completely vanishing, while others are forced into transformations that compromise their core missions. This is not only creating more victims of human rights violations but has also left prior victims alone.   For the freedom of association, the impact is devastating. The dismantling of USAID, the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL), and other dedicated funds from other countries has cut the lifelines for NGOs that served as democratic watchdogs worldwide.   Therefore, this is not merely a budgetary shift but a coordinated attack on the infrastructure of dissent.   In the U.S., for example, foundations and nonprofits are facing “three overlapping crises”:   • Policy Threats: Executive Orders targeting DEI and redefining “charitable” status to strip tax exemptions.   • Organizational Targeting: Explicit vilification of networks like the Open Society Foundations and investigative letters targeting major funders like the Gates and Ford Foundations.   • Mass Closings: Organizations are laying off up to 95% of staff, leading to a “generational funding collapse” of the humanitarian system.   In the meantime, worldwide we also see ultra-conservative anti-rights groups and autocratic regimes rushing to fill the vacuum left by established aid agencies.   These groups are, among others, reshaping the global health landscape with actions that restrict reproductive rights and LGBTQI+ protections. In the Asia-Pacific region alone, 240 million young girls are facing a “coordinated global backlash” as programs focused on education and gender equality are the first to be cut.   As I reported to the UN General Assembly last year, the right to association is an integral part of human nature. When states vilify aid as “criminal” or “corrupt,” they dismantle the lifelines that keep civic space alive.   We must restore a sustainable aid architecture that serves human dignity and the planet rather than private profit or political control.   But the impact on communities and individuals is far too grave. The data emerging in early 2026 is devastating.   Since the 2025 freeze, researchers estimate the dismantling of U.S. foreign aid alone has already caused 750,000 deaths, over 60% of whom are children—a rate of 88 preventable deaths every hour.   Projections indicate that without restoration, 22.6 million people could die from preventable causes by 2030 (The Lancet).   The “hammer” thrown at the aid system has undone decades of progress   • Access to justice: Deeply affected by terminated grants funding for community violence intervention programs, legal assistance for crime victims from underserved communities, court-appointed advocates for children in cases of abuse or neglect, services for victims of hate crimes, shutting down the safety net for domestic violence survivors and closing of shelters and hotlines.   • Democracy and rule of law: Crisis in independent media and civil society reduces the critical voices that speak truth to the power and weakens checks and balances in democracies and hybrid regimes, while in authoritarian context the constraints of dissenting voices increases repression, especially against the most vulnerable groups (Global Democracy Coalition).   • Human rights: global and regional mechanisms of human rights protections have seen drastic cuts of funding, which jeopardize the human rights protections worldwide. The OHCHR received a 16% cut of its budget for 2026 and several Human Rights Council mandates are also being defunded, many tied to human rights violations investigations in authoritarian states (ISHR).   • Global Health: Access to PrEP and life-saving HIV drugs has been halved for 80% of community organizations. Cholera deaths in the DRC alone surged by 361% in 2025 after essential water projects were halted (Oxfam).   • Education: The abrupt cancellation of nearly 400 USAID-funded education programs in 58 countries risks leaving millions of children—predominantly girls and refugees—without access to quality learning.   • Food Security: In West and Central Africa, 55 million people are expected to endure crisis levels of hunger, or worse by the end of the first semester of 2026, including over 13 million children who are also expected to suffer from malnutrition during the year 2026 (WFP). In Afghanistan, monthly reach for emergency food aid plummeted from 5.6 million people to just 1 million (Refugees International).   Perhaps equally alarming is the collapse of data collection systems. As USAID programs disappeared, so did the reporting requirements that tracked disease, death, and human rights violations. We are entering a period where the true scale of suffering and needs may never be fully known.   Besides the cut of funding, the existential threat is also related to the reduction of possibilities of civil society organizations to collect new funding due to the increase of mis/disinformation about CSO work that leads to lack of trust in communities and therefore increases the shrinking civic space, already heavily affected by anti-NGO laws and persecution.   We cannot allow a world without civil society. It is a world without hope, where the most vulnerable are left alone to face the most pressing human crises and wars. The international community must move beyond “business as usual” to restore a sustainable and just aid architecture that empowers civic engagement rather than advancing its suppression.   http://www.ipsnews.net/2026/03/the-architecture-of-hope-under-siege-one-year-of-global-aid-dismantling/ http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/10/global-aid-dismantling-poses-existential-threat-collective-action-and-human http://mcld.org/2026/06/05/beyond-the-aid-crisis http://www.concern.net/news/foreign-assistance-myths-and-facts http://www.concern.net/news/multilateralism-explained-and-why-it-matters http://www.rescue.org/article/new-world-disorder-whats-humanitarian-perspective http://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/thematic-reports/a80219-report-special-rapporteur-rights-freedom-peaceful-assembly-and http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/04/un-experts-safeguard-human-freedoms-systematic-digital-interference http://www.ids.ac.uk/news/smart-city-surveillance-tech-across-africa/ http://www.ids.ac.uk/news/africas-biometric-id-systems-blocking-millions-of-citizens-from-rights-and-services/ http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/04/un-experts-raise-concern-about-increasing-attacks-national-human-rights http://www.icj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Safeguarding-Civil-Society-Space-at-the-UN_03_2026_FES_ICJ_final-online.pdf http://www.openglobalrights.org/how-repression-erodes-collective-agency/   http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/05/turk-calls-tunisia-end-repressive-measures-against-civil-society-and-media http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-briefing-notes/2026/05/cambodia-quash-sentences-against-kem-sokha-and-other-arbitrary http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/04/iran-turk-deplores-crackdown-dissent-says-rights-all-iranians-must-be http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/03/un-expert-warns-deepening-human-rights-crisis-iran http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/03/colombia-urgent-action-needed-end-widespread-violence-against-human-rights http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/02/drc-un-experts-warn-extreme-m23-violence-targeting-human-rights-defenders http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/02/justice-brazilian-human-defender-killing   http://www.ohchr.org/en/statements-and-speeches/2026/05/zambias-de-facto-cancelation-rightscon-attack-rights-and-freedoms http://iwgia.org/en/news/6145-iwgia-condemns-cancellation-rightscon-2026-zambia.html http://www.fidh.org/en/region/europe-central-asia/belarus/belarus-leading-human-rights-organisation-viasna-turns-30-as-fight http://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/land-and-environmental-defenders/weaponising-social-media-how-indigenous-leaders-and-climate-activists-are-smeared-and-criminalised-in-guatemala/ http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2026/03/americas-estados-intensifican-ofensiva-contra-la-sociedad-civil-mediante-leyes-anti-ong/ http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2026/04/burkina-faso-dissolution-ngos/   http://ishr.ch/latest-updates/scope-of-transnational-corporations-treaty-must-include-the-environment-and-be-defender-and-community-centred/ http://ishr.ch/latest-updates/hrc61-civil-society-presents-key-takeaways-from-the-session/ http://www.icj.org/the-un-human-rights-council-makes-significant-but-limited-progress-in-addressing-human-rights-around-the-world-as-atrocities-multiply-in-the-middle-east-and-elsewhere/ http://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2026/growing-shadow-autocracy http://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/march/in-memoriam-berta-caceres http://www.ipsnews.net/2026/03/oil-shocks-political-upheaval-and-the-one-solution-governments-keep-ignoring/ http://dialogue.earth/en/business/how-investor-state-arbitration-throttles-environmental-action/ http://www.hrw.org/news/2026/04/24/environmental-activists-detention-undermines-turkiyes-role-as-cop31-co-host http://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/carr-ryan/our-work/carr-ryan-commentary/spyware-cases-europe-and-africa-spotlight-privacy http://www.pen-international.org/news/writers-under-siege-defying-silence-pen-international-case-list-2026 http://www.hrw.org/news/2026/05/14/us-foreign-aid-cuts-harm-human-rights-globally http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2026/05/authoritarianism-is-supercharging-the-climate-crisis/ http://www.article19.org/ http://www.accessnow.org/campaign/keepiton/ http://www.socialprotectionfloorscoalition.org/2026/05/analysis-social-protection-what-role-for-civil-society/   Dec. 2025   People Power Under Attack 2025 (CIVICUS)   The world has witnessed a dramatic rollback in fundamental freedoms, including speech, peaceful assembly and association, over the past five years, according to the latest ratings report from the CIVICUS Monitor.   The report, People Power Under Attack 2025, finds that people in 83 countries and territories now live with their freedoms routinely denied, compared to 67 in 2020, with stark declines both in states considered democracies and those governed by authoritarian regimes. The proportion of people living in countries with ‘Open’ or ‘Narrowed’ civic space, fell from nearly 13% in 2020 to just over 7% today.   “We see a continued trend of attacks on people’s right to speak up, come together as a collective, and protest for their rights around the world. This year’s slide is led by states often seen as models of democracy such as the USA, France, and Italy. In a context of rising authoritarianism and populism, no country seems immune from this deeply worrying trend,” said CIVICUS Secretary General Mandeep Tiwana.   “Civic freedoms are the backbone of good governance and inclusive democracy, but fewer and fewer governments are willing to respect the agency of their people to freely and meaningfully participate in public life.”   This year alone, 15 countries saw their ratings downgraded. Among the most concerning changes is the decline in the United States, which moved to the third tier rating ‘Obstructed’ following sweeping executive orders, militarised responses to protests and mounting attacks on press freedom.   European Union Member States, France, Germany and Italy were also all downgraded to ‘Obstructed’, reflecting a hardening stance on dissent, including the adoption of restrictive laws and practices to limit pro-Palestinian and environmental protests. Israel’s civic space fell even further to ‘Repressed’ as authorities eroded judicial independence, assaulted protesters, targeted and deported Palestinian citizens of Israel, and banned the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees from operating in Israel, all amid the genocide in Gaza. Civic space in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is already rated ‘Closed’ following years of Israeli control.   In the Americas, El Salvador moved to ‘Repressed’ as President Bukele consolidated power, introduced a foreign agents law targeting the media and civil society, and further dismantled institutional checks and balances.   In Africa, Sudan now joins the list of worst offenders in the ‘Closed’ category where civic space is practically non-existent, following more than two years of devastating civil war that has allowed the parties to the conflict to crush the space for civil society and media across the country. Burundi also fell to ‘Closed,’ while Madagascar dropped to ‘Repressed’ following deadly crackdowns on sustained youth-led protests, eventually leading to the military takeover in October 2025.   “While each downgrade reflects the sum of particular incidents in a country or territory, together they show clearly that across the world, civic space is under sustained attack by governments and anti-rights actors,” said CIVICUS Monitor Head Ine Van Severen.   The report documents the most common violations of civic freedoms in 2025. Detention of protesters is the top violation, documented in at least 76 countries, with half of those documented in Africa South of the Sahara. Journalists are frequently detained under restrictive laws, including cybercrimes laws and in some countries vague security or anti-terrorism laws, while judicial harassment of activists is also widely documented.   “The detention of protesters and activists has become the preferred method of governments to silence those who dissent or publicly disagree with the authorities,” said Ine Van Severen. “Authorities must stop detaining people and breaking up protests, and instead start listening to and engaging with people’s demands.”   Despite these troubling trends, the report highlights some positive developments. Chile advanced protections for environmental defenders through landmark legislation, while Senegal and Gabon improved their ratings following political transitions and legal reforms.   Meanwhile, in Bangladesh, an interim government released protesters and activists from prison, many of whom were persecuted under the regime of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. These examples show that progress is possible when governments engage constructively with civil society and uphold international human rights standards.   “We are witnessing a global emergency for civic freedoms. Even with some encouraging steps in places like Chile, Senegal, and Gabon, these remain exceptions to a deeply troubling global trend. Governments must act decisively: dismantle restrictive policies, end arbitrary detentions, and guarantee the right to protest. Failure to do so will risk eroding the legitimacy that underpins their authority,” said Tiwana.   * The CIVICUS Monitor is a global research platform that assesses the state of civic freedoms—including freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly—across 198 countries and territories. Each country is assigned a score from 0 to 100, reflecting the openness of its civic space, with higher scores indicating greater respect for civic freedoms. Based on these scores, countries are classified into five categories: Open, Narrowed, Obstructed, Repressed, or Closed.   http://monitor.civicus.org/globalfindings_2025 http://publications.civicus.org/publications/2025-state-of-civil-society-report/ http://lens.civicus.org/sudan-in-crisis-mass-killings-continue-while-the-world-looks-away/ http://srdefenders.org/joint-statement-time-to-release-all-human-rights-defenders-and-end-their-prolonged-detention http://srdefenders.org/the-mandate/the-mandate/annual-reports/ http://www.ohchr.org/en/topic/civic-space-and-human-rights-defenders   Oct. 2025   Attacks on global aid, rising securitisation, and the dismantling of the international aid architecture pose an urgent threat to fundamental freedoms, a UN expert warned today.   “The collapse of global aid greatly endangers the survival of civil society organisations and threatens the entire civil society ecosystem, as well as the future of international solidarity, collective action, and participation in multilateral forums,” said Gina Romero, UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association in her report to the 80th session of the UN General Assembly.   Romero noted that, since the beginning of 2025, thousands of civil society associations that have been filling critical gaps by providing life-saving services, supporting victims of human rights violations, delivering vital humanitarian responses, and working to fight corruption, protect the environment, and advance peacebuilding, are either disappearing or severely reducing their operations. The impact has been especially severe for grassroots organisations and those led by women, LGBTQI groups, and marginalised communities.   “What is unfolding is not merely a funding issue, it is a structural crisis in the international solidarity ecosystem,” the Special Rapporteur said. “Civic space globally is suffocating, not only because States are intensifying the scale and gravity of repression, but also because the lifelines that kept it alive are fundamentally challenged.”   The expert stressed that securitisation of the global agenda is driving a shift in funds and political priorities towards strengthening defence and military capabilities at the expense of democratisation and human rights. She noted that States are increasingly misusing national security grounds and discourse to justify the repression civil society and social movements.   “The securitisation and militarisation of State responses to non-violent collective actions, which are increasingly led by youth activists and have resulted in serious violations, are deeply alarming,” Romero said.   The Special Rapporteur called for urgent action to rebuild international solidarity and redesign a strengthened, fairer global aid architecture. “This requires reimagining international aid architecture, through a participatory and transparent process, and ensuring that it is equitable, inclusive, people-centred and rights-based,” she said.   The expert warned that severe restrictions on fundamental freedoms threaten decades of progress on human rights and democratisation, jeopardising the fulfilment of global commitments towards the Sustainable Development Goals, peace and security, inclusion and equality, and climate justice.   “States should implement a human rights-based approach to security, ensuring security policies and decisions are firmly rooted in international human rights standards; enable freedoms; and foster democratic resilience and inclusive governance,” Romero said.   http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/10/global-aid-dismantling-poses-existential-threat-collective-action-and-human http://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/thematic-reports/a80219-report-special-rapporteur-rights-freedom-peaceful-assembly-and http://eurochild.org/news/podcast-shrinking-funds-for-nonprofits/ Visit the related web page
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