Europe

The imprisoned leader of the Human Rights Center “Viasna” Ales Bialiatski has been awarded the Freedom of Expression award by the Norwegian Authors´ Union (“Den norske Forfatterforening”).

The award is to promote the activities of human rights defenders, journalists and writers who fight for freedom of expression in unfree countries. According to the Norwegian Authors´ Union, the award is recognition of Ales Bialiatski’s work and the high objectives pursued by Viasna activists.

Paris-Geneva, November 24, 2011. The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), condemns the sentencing to prison of Mr. Ales Bialiatski, FIDH Vice-President and President of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) “Viasna”, and denounces it as a move to silence the Belarusian civil society.

To: House of Representatives of the Republic of Belarus

Council of the Republic of the National Assembly

Copy to: Mr Aliaksandr Lukashenka, President of the Republic of Belarus

Johannesburg. 19 May 2011. The recent detention of 14 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) activists in Minsk is just one more incident in an on-going crackdown on civil society in Belarus, said CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation today. The arrests came as local LGBT groups were gathering in Minsk to commemorate the International Day of Anti-Homophobia on 17 May.

Compared to the past edition of CSI, the value of the perception of impact is lower and the value of the level of organisation dimension (which in the previous methodology was called structure) is higher. Since civil society in Italy has not changed in the last four years, we think that this difference is due to the difference in the methodology for collecting information in the two iterations: the first edition was mainly a collection of secondary data to which a group of experts gave an assessment, whilst in this edition such information mainly came from the opinions of a sample of CSOs.

CIVICUS is pleased to announce the publication of the CSI Analytical Country Report from Macedonia, entitled Civic Engagement – Long Road to Go.

The CIVICUS CSI is pleased to announce the publication of the Analytical Country Report from Russia. The CSI was implemented in Russia by the Centre for Studies of Civil Society and the Non-Profit Sector (CSCSNS) of the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE) in Moscow.

As shown by the Croatia Civil Society Index diamond, the structure of civil society is fairly stable and moderately developed. The strongest dimension of civil society in Croatia is seen to be its level of organisation. The external environment is also assessed strongly, suggesting that there is a relatively enabling environment for civil society development.

A close look at the research findings shows civil society's growing impact, expanding areas of activity and impressive initiatives to address some of Turkey's most pressing social and political concerns. When compared to two decades ago, civil society's arena and its organisations' development have reached impressive heights.