More than half of civil society organisations (CSOs) say the situation for civil society in their country has deteriorated or strongly deteriorated in the past three years.
This is according to a November 2018 conference paper from the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights on civil society space in 2018. The paper summarises the results of a September 2018 consultation with the Agency’s civil society network, and complements their January 2018 report on challenges facing CSOs.
The report also finds that:
- Staff at more than half of the CSOs consulted had faced threats or attacks because of their work. Of these, as many as 15 organisations said that their staff or volunteers had been physically attacked.
- The vast majority of respondents had been affected by changes in legal frameworks, such as laws around taxation, freedom of expression and assembly, transparency and lobbying.
- Three quarters of the responding organisations faced obstacles in accessing resources or funding.
- Many CSOs had faced challenges in making their voices heard in civil and political decision-making. In response to a question around public consultations, very few were positive about the overall impact and quality of the consultations in which they’d been involved.
