Over 3 billion people living in countries where civic freedoms are violated – New CIVICUS Monitor tool

More than three billion people live in countries where the rights to protest, organize and speak out are currently being violated according to the CIVICUS Monitor, the first-ever online tool to track and compare civic freedoms on a global scale.

What is the #CIVICUSMonitor?
The CIVICUS Monitor provides near real-time updates on human rights violations and the status of civic space for every country in the world based on how well they uphold the three fundamental rights that enable people to act collectively and make change: freedom of association, freedom of peaceful assembly, and freedom of expression.

What are the findings?



We are seeing violations of civic freedoms in every region of the world, but these are more concentrated in Africa, the Middle East and the Americas. Of the 104 countries rated, 16 are closed, 32 repressed, 21 obstructed, 26 narrowed and 9 are open, equating to more than 3billion people whose civic freedoms are being violated in one form or another around the world.


The CIVICUS Monitor also documents attacks on civil society with updates every weekday. Analysis of more than 200 updates to the CIVICUS Monitor over the past four months has found:
•   Detention of activists (68 cases), use of excessive force against protesters (62 cases) and attacks on journalists (37 cases) were the three most common violations of civic freedoms.
•    Activists were most likely to be detained over criticism of authorities (37%), human rights monitoring (29%) or political divisions or conflict (16%).
•    Excessive force was most likely to be used against protesters who criticise government decisions or corruption (29%), call for action on human rights abuses (20%) or call for basic social or economic freedoms (20%).
•    Journalists were most likely to be attacked covering protests (26%) or conflicts (19%), or because of their ethnicity, religious or political affiliation (14%).
•    In the vast majority of cases, the state is the perpetrator of violations.

CIVICUS hopes the #CIVICUSMonitor will be an invaluable tool allowing activists, journalists, civil society organisations, academic institutions and the general public to assess how well their governments are enabling civic freedoms, as enshrined in national constitutions and guaranteed in international law, as well as through intergovernmental commitments such as the Sustainable Development Goals, Open Government Partnership and the Busan Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation.

Visit the site to find your country rating, search the database by violations or rights and send us your feedback through the Have Your Say button on each country page.

Also see our #CIVICUSMonitor Media and Social Media Toolkit for resources that include social media messages, graphics, official press materials and summary of the findings to help you spread the word in your networks.

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