The statement, made by Elizabeth O’Casey, Humanists International’s Director of Advocacy, was made in the context of a general debate about the UPR. It pointed out that, despite the important role Civil Society plays in improving and tracking human rights standards at the UN and worldwide, CSOs are still not included at every stage of the UPR process, and risks for them when engaging, such as facing reprisals, still not mitigated against.
Accordingly, the statement reiterated previous calls made for strengthening the engagement possibilities for CSOs; “specifically, by including space for Civil Society statements at the working group stage, and by creating a mechanism of accountability for reprisals within the UPR process.”
O’Casey pointed out that this renewed call for reform comes at a time of a global crackdown against Civil Society.
She highlighted a statement made just over a week ago in a speech by the the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban, which “encapsulated this anti-CSO sentiment.” During his speech, Orban vowed to wipe out NGOs and media he claimed to be fed by foreign funding; he described them as “bugs” that needed to be carried off by flood water. O’Casey pointed out that, Hungary is not alone in its clampdown, with similar trends happening in Azerbaijan, India, Nicaragua, Russia, Slovakia, Turkey, and Uganda and elsewhere.
She ended the statement by noting that, the global pattern of repression of Civil Society “is compounded by sweeping funding cuts and disinvestment in the multilateral human rights system as a whole,” and argued that, “empowering Civil Society is key to creating a more accountable and effective human rights system.”