'The erosion of civic space - Democracy under threat'

Discussion group

On Sunday, 8 October, 16 religious and associates met in person at the FCJ centre in London, together with seven zoom participants for a one day conference, organised by JPIC LINKS on 'The erosion of civic space - Democracy under threat'. The day was facilitated by Rosemary Forest from Bond UK, the organisation which connects, strengthens and champions a dynamic network of civil society organisations to eradicate global poverty, inequality and injustice.

Rosemary defined civic space as: "The environment in which civil society exists, online or offline. It refers to the political, legal regulatory, policy, social, cultural, economic and security context civil society operates in as well as the rights and freedoms it needs to function, especially the rights to freedom of assembly and association, to freedom of expression and opinion, to information and to participation."

Rosemary gave examples of how civic space may be restricted including:

Limits on access - eg limits on public access to information and data held by public bodies.

Laws and regulations - Limits on the issues that groups can work on and the types of activities they can undertake: Laws that seek to censor dissenting voices online and offline.

Security and policing - Detention and arrest of activists; Restrictions on protests and criminalisation, intimidation and use of force on protesters

Digital and online - Online or digital surveillance and unfettered use of digital technologies

Harassment and intimidation - Stigmatisation of activists and journalists including reputational attacks; Surveillance, harassment and intimidation of protesters, activists and journalists

Physical violence - Physical attacks and killings of protesters, activists and journalists, or their families and relatives

Sadly when we thought about where we saw civic space being eroded in the UK - personal examples came thick and fast. We agreed that the presence of restrictions and pressures on civil society makes it harder for us to function effectively. If civil society is unable to operate this will have a negative impact on all aspects of society, but particularly on levels of transparency and accountability, levels of representation and participation and the effectiveness of government policies and services.

CIVICUS is an international alliance dedicated to strengthening citizen action and civil society throughout the world. It seeks to amplify the voices and opinions of ordinary people. It recognises that for effective and sustainable civic participation to occur, citizens must enjoy rights of free association and be able to engage all sectors of society.

- In September 2021 the UK was placed on the CIVICUS Monitor Watchlist alongside Nicaragua, Belarus and Afghanistan.

- Civic space in the UK has declined rapidly and significantly over the last two years. In January 2023 Human Rights Watch warned the UK risks being added to its list of global human rights abusers.

- In January 2023, the UK received its lowest ever score and dropped seven places in the global Corruption Perceptions Index.

In March 2023 CÍVICUS downgraded the UK to 'obstructed' status which means that civic space is heavily contested by power holders who undermine civil society by the use of illegal activities and demeaning public statements

The UK is using a variety of means to erode the civic space, including:

Problematic legislation which reduces accountability and impacts human rights, including preventing public bodies from making boycott, divestment and sanctions decisions that are not in line with UK foreign interests,

Damaging narratives - In the media and among politicians

Undermining and threatening organisations - eg MPs reporting charities to the Charity commission for being too 'political' eg the National Trust, Runnymede Trust, RSPB

Rosemary pointed out that that some sections of civil society are targeted and face greater risks than others.

These are those who:

- Seek to hold powerful actors to account or challenge vested interests, such as journalists and whistle-blowers, anti-corruption campaigners, environmental activists and land rights defenders;

- Are seen to confront or not comply with dominant social and gender norms such as LGBT+ activists, women human rights defenders and those working on women's rights or gender justice;

- Those from or who represent the rights and interests of minority religious or ethnic groups or indigenous communities.

But pressures and restrictions on civil society impact everyone. They often have a chilling effect where even those who are not directly targeted change their behaviour or engage in self censorship to mitigate risks.

In the afternoon we had group discussions about what we can do about it and at the end committed to one action which I as an individual are going to do.

We agreed that it was important to build relationships with MP's and prospective MP's. Getting to know your MP and find common values. Other suggestions were:

Writing letters to MP's and government departments, (The Craftivist Collective/Results Uk letter writing guide is a useful resource: https://bit.ly/3LPAlaU )

Meeting MP's and prospective MP's at hustings, talking to family and friends about the issues. This can be difficult when a person has opposing views but as Pope Francis said in January 2023 for World Communications Day, 'Sometimes friendly conversations can open a breach even in the most hardened of hearts.

Writing a letter to the editor of your local and national press

Use of social media to shed light on the issues.

We celebrated the many initiatives that are already underway to create the political will to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in the UK and elsewhere.

More than once the issue of how to involve Church members and encourage Church leaders to speak out especially against toxic narratives, how to build coalitions of like minded Christians. Where does the Conference of religious in England and Wales stand on this?

How could we involve the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland?

Has anyone else any further ideas?

Finally the action that I will be taking up. Having more than once attended a Churches together general election hustings in my former constituency I will be looking into how we could start to prepare for the upcoming election by planning an election husting in each constituency. It was suggested that if each branch of the Churches together network were to hold an election hustings in each constituency of the UK then it would be one way of holding politicians and prospective politicians to account - I have already started on my research!

LINKS

Bond UK: www.bond.org.uk/
Churches Together in South London: www.ctslondon.org.uk/ctgroups.htm
CIVICUS: https://monitor.civicus.org/about/