The latest CIVICUS Monitor report, titled “People Power Under Attack 2023,” throws light on the growing threat to civic freedoms around the world. The Monitor has been in operation since 2017, tracking the state of freedom of association, peaceful assembly and expression in 198 countries and territories.
Each year, CIVICUS tracks the state of civic space conditions, based on data collected through local civil society organizations, regional research groups, and international human rights indices, as well as CIVICUS think tanks.
In 2023, some of the most relevant data were:
Widespread Attacks: civic freedoms are under attack in 118 of 198 countries and territories, signaling a growing limitation on the exercise of fundamental human rights.
Reduced Civic Space: Nearly one-third of the world’s population has minimal civic space, particularly impacting groups that promote democracy, better governance and environmental protection.
Threats to Freedom of Expression: Freedom of expression is the most severely impacted, affecting more than half of the recorded violations from both state and non-state sources.
In the context of the Americas, the report highlights a significant increase in state control over civic space, with abuses of punitive power affecting human rights defenders and journalists, undermining the foundations of modern democracies.
Recommendations:
CIVICUS Monitor has provided a list of recommendations that seek to create a healthy, respectable and enabling environment in which civil society activists and journalists can work freely, without fear of violence, in line with international human rights commitments, addressed to governments, the United Nations, international organizations, the private sector and donors.
We hope that this report will serve as a global wake-up call and contribute to building a more democratic 2024 around the world.