News stories by CIVICUS
CHINA: ‘My Sister Has Been in a Chinese Prison for Eight Years Because I Exercised My Freedom of Speech’
- Inter Press Service

CIVICUS discusses the persecution of Uyghurs and activism in exile with Rushan Abbas, an Uyghur American activist, founder and executive director of Campaign for Uyghurs and chair of the Executive Committee of the World Uyghur Congress.
SUDAN: ‘It’s Shocking to Be Forced into Silence Simply Because You Are a Refugee’
- Inter Press Service

CIVICUS discusses life as a refugee with an exiled Sudanese civil society activist who has asked to remain anonymous for security reasons.
BRAZIL: ‘Resistance Is Intergenerational, and Art Is How Energy Gets Renewed’
- Inter Press Service

CIVICUS discusses the role of art in climate and rights struggles in the Brazilian Amazon with Tom Wheeler, executive director and co-founder of Treesistance. Treesistance is a platform operated by the Netherlands-based Sinchi Foundation that partners with Indigenous communities across four Brazilian states on cultural preservation and forest protection.
IRAQ: ‘Art Is the Only Weapon That Doesn’t Hurt or Kill’
- Inter Press Service

CIVICUS discusses public art, gender-based violence and censorship in Iraqi Kurdistan with Tara Abdullah, a multidisciplinary visual artist from Sulaymaniyah who is currently based in Oslo, Norway as part of the Safemuse – Safe Havens for Artists residency.
ETHIOPIA: ‘Reporting on Abuses Shouldn’t Be Treated as a Threat to National Interest’
- Inter Press Service

CIVICUS discusses renewed conflict and a growing crackdown on independent media in Ethiopia with Yonas Kedir, Editor-in-Chief of the independent news outlet Addis Standard, who was recently abducted and detained by government forces.
PHILIPPINES: ‘Responding to Disinformation Can’t Mean Giving the Government a Mandate to Police Truth’
- Inter Press Service

CIVICUS discusses the implications of the Philippines’ proposed anti-disinformation bill with Josalee Deinla, Secretary-General of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, a civil society organisation that defends civil liberties in the Philippines.
LIECHTENSTEIN: ‘We Have One of the Strictest Abortion Bans in Europe’
- Inter Press Service

CIVICUS discusses struggles for abortion rights in Liechtenstein with Gabriella Alvarez-Hummel, a journalist and reproductive rights activist who works with Fristenlösung für Liechtenstein, an organisation that campaigns for the introduction of a legal time-limit abortion model.
SWEDEN: ‘The New Migration Laws Are so Vague That People Don’t Know What Might Be Used Against Them’
- Inter Press Service

CIVICUS discusses Sweden’s new migration laws with John Stauffer, legal director and deputy executive director of Civil Rights Defenders, a Swedish civil society organisation that acts as a civil rights watchdog at home and supports human rights defenders in repressive contexts worldwide.
ECUADOR: ‘Criminalisation Serves as a Deterrent, Seeking to Discipline Others’
- Inter Press Service

CIVICUS discusses the rapid erosion of civic space in Ecuador with Gabriela Panchana, an activist, communicator and founder of the En Voz Alta and Rumbo Plural digital platforms.
GAZA: ‘There Are No Standards to Tell You What to Do in Conditions like Gaza’
- Inter Press Service

CIVICUS discusses the state of civic and humanitarian action in Gaza with Ibrahim Arandas, a Palestinian activist and project manager at SPARK Gaza, a civil society organisation that provides humanitarian and psychosocial support.

