Civil society helps us create a fairer, more democratic society by building bridges between people and politicians. But governments are dismantling it piece by piece. We submitted a policy paper to the Commission ahead of their paper on civic space.
Corrupt politicians and powerful businesses use legal bullying to silence critical voices. This practice is a threat to European values and to the rule of law. We shared a proposal with the Commission on how to protect journalists and NGOs from SLAPPs.
Growing political pressure, high concentration of ownership, smears and abusive lawsuits against journalists, lack of oversight on public service media: we collected evidence to see why media freedom is in decline in Europe.
Pandemic emergency powers have become ‘normalised’ in some EU countries, while increasingly authoritarian regimes have further eroded democratic standards.
Many governments in the EU have deployed COVID-19 contact tracing apps to help contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. We built this Hub to monitor and understand the impact of these applications on our rights.
Authoritarians in Hungary, Poland and Slovenia abused the pandemic to continue eroding democratic standards, but traditionally strong democracies also disappoint.
With our member partners from Europe we push for more transparency & privacy among the COVID-19 contact tracing apps. Because health does matter, and so do our human rights.
This guide offers suggestions on how to frame human rights when speaking about measures that authorities are taking (or failing to take) to halt the spread and minimise the impact of coronavirus.