Civic space is created by a set of universally-accepted rules, which allow people to organise, participate and communicate with each other freely and without hindrance, and in doing so, influence the political and social structures around them. It is a concept central to any open and democratic society and means that states have a

duty to protect In medical law and medical ethics, the duty to protect is the responsibility of a mental health professional to protect patients and others from foreseeable harm. If a client makes statements that suggest suicidal or homicidal ideation, the cli ...

people while respecting and facilitating the

fundamental rights Fundamental rights are a group of rights that have been recognized by a high degree of protection from encroachment. These rights are specifically identified in a constitution, or have been found under due process of law. The United Nations' Susta ...

to associate, assemble peacefully and

express Express, The Expresss or EXPRESS may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film * ''Express: Aisle to Glory'', a 1998 comedy short film featuring Kal Penn * ''The Express: The Ernie Davis Story'', a 2008 film starring Dennis Quaid * The Expre ...

views and opinions.

History

Although the term "civic space" has only been in common usage since after the turn of this millennium, the rights upon which the concept is based have been a necessary feature of every democratic society. Global civil society alliance CIVICUS began using the term regularly after the inception of the Civic Space Initiative in 2011, defining it as "the place, physical, virtual, and legal, where people exercise their rights to freedom of association, expression, and peaceful assembly. By forming associations, by speaking out on issues of public concern, by gathering together in online and offline fora, and by participating in public decision-making, individuals use civic space to solve problems and improve lives. A robust and protected civic space forms the cornerstone of accountable, responsive democratic governance and stable societies." Civic space is also closely connected to the development of post–World War II human rights norms, and particularly the

Universal Declaration on Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN committee chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt, ...

in 1948 which established clear protections for the rights to freedom of association, peaceful assembly and expression. As a concept, civic space is also closely related to the evolution of the concept of

civil society Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

on the concepts of "

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

" or "

polity A polity is a group of people with a collective identity, who are organized by some form of political Institutionalisation, institutionalized social relations, and have a capacity to mobilize resources. A polity can be any group of people org ...

" characterised by a shared set of

norm Norm, the Norm or NORM may refer to: In academic disciplines * Normativity, phenomenon of designating things as good or bad * Norm (geology), an estimate of the idealised mineral content of a rock * Norm (philosophy), a standard in normative e ...

s or

ethos ''Ethos'' is a Greek word meaning 'character' that is used to describe the guiding beliefs or ideals that characterize a community, nation, or ideology; and the balance between caution and passion. The Greeks also used this word to refer to the ...

.Language here is adapted from the Wikipedia article on

civil society Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.independent judiciary Judicial independence is the concept that the judiciary should be independent from the other branches of government. That is, courts should not be subject to improper influence from the other branches of government or from private or partisan inte ...

, etc, that make up a democratic society." Especially in the discussions among thinkers of Eastern and Central Europe, civil society is seen also as a concept of civic values.Taken directly from the

civil society Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.

Protection of rights

Core civic space rights – the rights to freedom of association, freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression – are guaranteed by law. States that are signatories of international conventions (such as the United Nations

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is a multilateral treaty that commits nations to respect the civil and political rights of individuals, including the right to life, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom ...

) and other regional treaties containing similar provisions, are obliged to respect and protect these rights. These states are also obligated to protect these rights in domestic law and many of the ratifying States have included protection of these rights in their constitutions as fundamental freedoms. States are obliged not only to respect and promote these rights but also to protect them from infringement by both state and

non-state actors A non-state actor (NSA) is an individual or organization that has significant political influence but is not allied to any particular country or state. The interests, structure, and influence of NSAs vary widely. For example, among NSAs are non-pr ...

.CIVICUS
Compendium Of International Legal Instruments And Other Inter-Governmental Commitments Concerning Core Civil Society Rights
January 2014 Therefore, a progressive

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

supported by a sound legislative framework that is upheld by a responsive and independent law enforcement machinery is key to enabling and preserving civic space. Notably, Goal 16 of the

Sustainable Development Goals The ''2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development'', adopted by all United Nations (UN) members in 2015, created 17 world Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The aim of these global goals is "peace and prosperity for people and the planet" – wh ...

framework agreed to by all UN member states promises to 'promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies.’ As a starting point, while there have been a number of international initiatives launched over recent years to defend civic space, civil society actors were lacking a strong common definition of the terms and shape of the civic space to be defended. To fill this gap, an informal meeting of CSOs, which took place in Bangkok in November 2015, asked the International Civil Society Centre to facilitate the development of a Civic Charter. The Civic Charter provides a global framework for people's participation in shaping their societies. The two-page document, which people and organisations can sign on to and use as a basis for joint action, articulates a common set of civic and political rights. Aimed at civil society activists and their organisations, the Civic Charter connects those engaged in the everyday struggle for civic space – on a local, national, regional or international level. Firstly, it draws together the most crucial terms for civic participation in an easily understandable way. Secondly, it serves as a global reference framework to civil society actors for their rights enshrined in international law. Thirdly, it reaffirms people's rights to participate in shaping their societies. The Civic Charter can provide a more effective basis for campaigning and advocacy for civic participation, as well as for promoting international solidarity with CSOs and activists in a specific country or region.

Freedom of association

The right to freely associate includes the right of every person without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, sexual orientation or other status, to “establish a civil society organisation and also to freely join one or choosing not to participate. Individuals may operate civil society organisations and participate in their activities without fear or unwarranted interference. Freedom of association also encompasses the right to establish branches, recruit staff, raise funds freely, to fair taxation levels and to affiliate and cooperate with other organisations locally, nationally or internationally.” It also includes the right to form and join trade unions for the protection of his interests.Article 22, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
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International law International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Customary law, legal customs and standards that State (polity), states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generall ...

protects the freedom of association and obligates states not to interfere with this right and only in instances where intervention by the state is necessary in the interests of national security, public safety or public order; the protection of public health or morals; or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others. Like the freedom of expression, the margin for restricting this right is very limited. State actions must lean in favour of permitting civil society activities and creating an enabling environment for civil society to function and thrive.

Freedom of expression

The right to freedom of expression entails, according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the "freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." The right is fundamental to the existence of civil society. It includes "the right to access information, critically evaluate and speak out against the policies and actions of state and non-state actors, as well as publicly draw attention to and carry out advocacy actions to promote shared concerns, without fear of retribution from any quarter. Civil society organisations are also assured the freedom to carry out investigations and document their findings under this right." According to international law (for example see Article 20 of the ICCPR), freedom of expression can only be restricted in certain limited circumstances, provided by law and where it is necessary to protect the rights and reputations of others and to safeguard national security, public order, public health and morals.

Freedom of assembly

The right to freely assemble "assures civil society the freedom to exercise legitimate dissent through peaceful forms of

protest A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration, or remonstrance) is a public act of objection, disapproval or dissent against political advantage. Protests can be thought of as acts of cooperation in which numerous people cooperate ...

as well as organise meetings and hold demonstrations to forward matters of common interest." International law places the same limitations on the restriction of this right as in the case of freedom of association. Moreover,

international standards An international standard is a technical standard developed by one or more international standards organizations. International standards are available for consideration and use worldwide. The most prominent such organization is the International O ...

limit the use of force by the authorities in managing public assemblies.

Violations

At the international level, civic space violations are regularly documented and reported by international human rights organisations like CIVICUS,

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

, the International Centre for Not-for-profit Law (ICNL), Article 19,

Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders (RWB; ; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organisation, non-governmental organization headquartered in Paris, which focuses on safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its a ...

, Frontline Defenders, the

International Service for Human Rights The International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) is an independent, non-profit organization with offices in Geneva and New York which promotes and protects human rights by supporting human rights defenders, strengthening human rights standards ...

, the

International Federation for Human Rights The International Federation for Human Rights (; FIDH) is a non-governmental federation for human rights organizations. Founded in 1922, FIDH is the third oldest international human rights organization worldwide after Anti-Slavery International ...

(FIDH) and others. At the regional, national and sub-national levels there are innumerable

human rights organisation A human rights group, or human rights organization, is a non-governmental organization which advocates for human rights through identification of their violation, collecting incident data, its analysis and publication, promotion of public awareness ...

s, development organisations,

think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...

s and

academic institution An academic institution is an educational institution dedicated to education and research, which grants academic degrees. See also academy and university. Types * Primary schools – (from French ''école primaire'') institutions where childre ...

s devoted to researching and campaigning on civic space issues. Violations of civic space take many forms and can be perpetrated by the state - either directly through officials, police officers or security personnel, or at arm's length through agents or third parties - or non-state actors including criminal gangs,

terrorist organisations Several national governments and two international organizations have created lists of organizations that they designate as terrorist. The following list of designated terrorist groups lists groups designated as terrorist by current and former ...

, private corporations,

political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

, religious organisations and

civil society Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.human rights defenders A human rights defender or human rights activist is a person who, individually or with others, acts to promote or protect human rights. They can be journalists, environmentalists, whistleblowers, trade unionists, lawyers, teachers, housing campai ...

and

activists Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

using intimidation tactics,

harassment Harassment covers a wide range of behaviors of an offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behavior that demeans, humiliates, and intimidates a person, and it is characteristically identified by its unlikelihood in terms of social and ...

, travel bans, detention, among others. Curtailing the ability to protest can be done within the legislative framework, when the norms in place unduly restricted the right to assembly by imposing prior authorisation requirements, time and place restrictions, among others. In practice, this right can be restricted when security forces use excessive force to disperse protesters, arbitrary arrest them and even charge protesters with provisions of the criminal code and even anti terrorism legislation. Targeting free speech can take various forms. As the media plays a crucial role in disseminating information, States often overregulated media in order to limit, control or prevent critical and dissenting voices to express. In some cases, the pluralistic views are also undermined by media concentration in just a few private corporations. Criminalisation of

dissent Dissent is an opinion, philosophy or sentiment of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or policy enforced under the authority of a government, political party or other entity or individual. A dissenting person may be referred to as ...

by using

defamation Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...

provisions is also commonly used to restrict freedom of expression. Acts of violence against journalists and media workers for reason related to their professional work often occurs and limits the right to freedom of expression and access to information as it also prevents the public from accessing that information. The internet is a unique tool that allows individuals to communicate instantly, with a positive impact on the way we currently share and access information.United Nations. General Assembly
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression
A/66/290. August 10, 2011. For that reason, it is particularly targeted by authorities to curtail dissent. Some governments restrict the

dissemination To disseminate (from Latin, lat. ''disseminare'' "scattering seeds"), in the field of communication, is to broadcast a message to the public without direct feedback from the audience. Meaning Dissemination takes on the theory of the traditional ...

of content on certain sensitive issues by blocking access to social media platforms, deleting certain pages or content and even arresting people for disseminating sensitive information.

Notes

References

{{reflist, 2 Freedom of expression