October 29, 2016 | News

Civil societies globally under pressure – countering the „closing space“ phenomenon

On October 24 and 25, Annika Elena Poppe and Jonas Wolff went to Berlin to attend the official launch of the International Consortium on Closing Space (iCon) of which they are founding members. iCon is a research forum by the Human Rights Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington DC. The consortium, comprising activists and experts from civil society and academia, will examine the many drivers of the globally increasing restrictions on civil society and seeks to develop adequate responses for countering this so-called “closing space” phenomenon.

Annika stayed on in Berlin to attend Global Perspectives, an annual three-day meeting by civil society activists and supporters under the auspices of the International Civil Society Centre. This year’s conference was themed The Future of Civic Space and provided a forum for exchange on the shape and direction of closing space as well as how to successfully (re-)claim spaces.

iCon’s homepage has not yet launched but if you are interested in the issue, check out Annika’s and Jonas’ recent contributions (PRIF Report and OpenDemocracy blog post).

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