The European Union this week announced a Call for Proposals to Support Civil Society Initiatives to Promote Democracy and Human Rights in Equatorial Guinea. How timely. The authorities in Equatorial Guinea should immediately… Read more »
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is grappling with the fallout of the ruling party’s big defeat in the Istanbul mayoral election, and his government faces pressure to release political prisoners,… Read more »
At least a dozen African governments have passed laws that improperly constrain nongovernmental organizations in the last 15 years, while anti-NGO measures are pending in six more, according to… Read more »
The European Union (EU) must urge Vietnam to end its ongoing crackdown on peaceful dissent, repeal its repressive laws, and immediately release all political prisoners, according to human rights groups,… Read more »
Democracy is undergoing an ‘alarming’ decline around the world, according to the latest annual survey from Freedom House.* The country-by-country report – Freedom In The World 2019 – paints a… Read more »
A court in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don has ordered house arrest for Anastasia Shevchenko, a coordinator at the Open Russia civil organization, under an “undesirable organizations” law that came… Read more »
At a bucolic border post, Western-trained Hungarian counterintelligence agents recently got word that a known operative of Russia’s foreign spy service was driving into Hungary, and asked headquarters for permission… Read more »
Mass demonstrations in Nicaragua turned deadly when police opened fire on protesters, killing at least 25. The protests started on April 18 when the government sought to introduce social security… Read more »
Egypt’s new NGO law has militarized civil society and demonstrates how security leaders have exploited the need to counter a genuine terrorist threat as a justification to suppress political parties,… Read more »
Democratic institutions deteriorate when labor rights diminish, research suggests. Similarly, unions serve as what Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam calls “schools for democracy” and also tend to enhance democratization. In which… Read more »