The events of 2020 stimulated the decline of civic freedoms. The implementation of restrictive legislation under COVID-19 and authoritarian governments’ rise contributed to a growth in restrictions on free speech, the right to protest peacefully, and other fundamental rights protected in international law. A global report by the CIVICUS Monitor presents many people living in closed, repressed, or obstructed countries. Also, civic space restrictions most frequently documented were the detention of protesters, censorship, intimidation, attacks on journalists, and harassment. The countries with the highest civic space rating can provide leadership and lessons: 9 of the 10 countries that have made the most progress on the SDGs have a civic space rating as ‘open’. The connection between fundamental freedoms and progress on sustainable development is clear; one cannot move forward without the other. Read more here.
Source: IISD