Charities and other civil society organisations that provide humanitarian support to marginalised people around the world increasingly face hostile governments run by right-wing nationalists, according to the latest report from Civicus.
Civicus, a global alliance of civil society organisations, has published the State of Civil Society Report 2019, an annual look at global trends affecting the sector.
The report draws on over 50 interviews and articles from activists, leaders and experts. It is informed by the Civicus Monitor, an online platform that tracks conditions for civil society in 2018.
Civicus warns of a “global crisis of compassion” and says that one example was the Italian government refusing to allow a Médecins Sans Frontières boat to dock.
It says that civic space is under serious attack in 111 of the world’s nations, over half of all countries.
The tracker rates countries according to how open they are. There are five ratings: open, narrowed, obstructed, repressed and closed. The UK has been rated as narrowed.
But it said that there were examples of organisations fighting back, for example the #MeToo movement for women’s rights and school strikes to protest climate change.
‘We need new strategies’
Civicus urged civil society to think of new strategies to address the problems they face.
Lysa John, secretary general at Civicus, said: “Civil society, acting on humanitarian impulses, confronts a rising tide of global mean-spiritedness, challenging humanitarian values in a way unparalleled since the Second World War.
"We need a new campaign, at both global and domestic levels, to reinforce humanitarian values and the rights of progressive civil society groups to act.”
It recommended promoting new ideas about economic democracy and fairer economies with people and rights at their centre, and reinforcing the spirit of internationalism, shared humanity and compassion in all activity.
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