News stories by Mandeep S.Tiwana, page 2

JOHANNESBURG, Oct 05 (IPS) - Civil society has been described as the oxygen of democracy by no less than UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon. As the world's largest democracy, India has a proud history of inspiring people's movements and non-profit organisations looked up to by social change advocates across the globe.

JOHANNESBURG, Apr 05 (IPS) - South Africa celebrated human rights month this March with President Zuma recalling the "heroism of our people who stood up for their rights." However, this same month which commemorates the sacrifices of those who took part in the struggle against apartheid and those who died in the Sharpeville Massacre of 21 March 1960 was not a happy one for today's civil society activists and organisations engaged in defending human rights. Two shocking incidents raise troubling questions for the future of civil society in the country.

JOHANNESBURG, Jun 10 (IPS) - Whistle-blowers like Edward Snowden and Julian Assange are hounded – not by autocratic but by democratic governments – for revealing the truth about grave human rights violations. Nobel peace prize winner, writer and political activist Liu Xiaobo  is currently languishing in a Chinese prison while the killing of Egyptian protestor, poet and mother Shaimaa al-Sabbagh, apparently by a masked policeman, in January this year continues to haunt us. 

JOHANNESBURG, Mar 23 (IPS) - For those of us interested in a vibrant civil society, it seems to be best of times and the worst of times.

JOHANNESBURG, Nov 25 (IPS) - Nabeel Rajab, president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, an advocacy NGO, is facing criminal charges for sending a tweet that said: "many Bahrain men who joined terrorism and ISIS have come from the security institutions and those institutions were the first ideological incubator".

JOHANNESBURG, Sep 02 (IPS) - The killings of hundreds of civilians, including scores of children, in Gaza – whose only fault was to have been born on the wrong side of the wall – was a major point of contention at the United Nations Human Rights Council at the end of July.

JOHANNESBURG, May 17 (IPS) - In December 2011, 159 governments and major international organisations recognised the central role of civil society in development and promised to create an "enabling" operating environment for the non-profit sector.

What many hoped would be an across-the-board humanitarian intervention by a multi-lateral UN force to protect civilian lives in Libya has ended up becoming a military operation run by a "coalition of the willing", some of whose constituents are blamed for causing numerous civilian deaths in military operations elsewhere, writes Mandeep S.Tiwana, Policy Manager at CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation