What is civic space?
Civic space in general meaning is a space, physical or digital, where people are allowed to come together to exercise their human rights and core freedoms without any fear and restrictions. A free civic space aims to promote democratic principles, human rights, and fundamental values in order to build a democratic society. To be more specific, civic space can be defined as an enabling and favorable environment that allows people to be active in their communities, speak out and organize protest against bad-governance and repression, make state accountable and participate in the governance of their state, physically or online.
Any open and democratic society is built on the foundation of civic space. Citizens and civil society organizations (CSOs) can organize, participate, and communicate freely when civic space is open. Any state’s primary duty is to protect its citizens while also respecting and facilitating their fundamental rights to associate, peacefully assemble, and freely express their thoughts and opinions. Freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom of association and freedom of expression are the three most important rights for civil society to function properly and freely. Moreover, the vibrant civic space is also crucial to achieve and localize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) particularly the SDG 4 (access to education) SDG 5 (gender equality), SDG 6 (access to water and sanitation), SDG 10 (reduced inequality), SDG 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions), and the principles of inclusion and ‘leaving no one behind’.
Civic space in Nepal
Since the democratic transition in the 1990s and during the decade-long civil war (1996-2006) civil society actors in Nepal were crucial in defending political and civil rights. Following a difficult political transition in 2006 after ten years of Maoist conflict, civil society in the country played a critical role and contributed greatly in providing basic services to citizens and rebuilding the country from civil war, fragmented conflicts and years-long political turmoil. During this time, civil society in the country filled the void left by the absence of democratically elected and responsive local governments. In 2015, when the country promulgated the constitution after many years of brainstorming and discussions, Nepal transitioned into a new governance system, giving citizens and CSOs hope that they would be able to participate in local civic activities. However, the situation has not been very optimistic even after over six years of constitution formation and 2017’s elections. Moreover, the civic space has been rather shrinking and the CSOs and civic activists have been threatened by the state and non-state actors in multiple forms and occasions. In recent years, civic space in Nepal has changed rapidly. Ever since the restoration of democracy in the country, civil society actors have been playing a critical role in further strengthening and promoting democracy. Yet the role and contributions played by the CSOs have not been optimally recognized and acknowledged. In Nepal, the civic space has become more fragmented and partisan particularly since 2015. Despite recent administrative and legal changes, as well as efforts to suppress specific movements, civic space in Nepal is currently not in danger of being closed to actors directly involved in inclusive development. Nonetheless, CSOs on the other hand may lack the collective capacity to form broad issue-based alliances to hold the government accountable.
Several acts and draft bills have been introduced in Nepal to provide the government with oversight authority, which has the potential to severely impede the registration and operation of CSOs. In recent years, laws and regulations have been enacted that increase surveillance of prominent civil society actors and regulate the media’s freedom of expression. Citizens are also vulnerable to law enforcement agencies using excessive force, and journalists are at risk of physical assault as well as criminal defamation charges. Moreover, during the Covid-19 pandemic, we witnessed that the government imposed a series of lockdowns and multiple forms of restrictions for public assemblies which restricted the civil society activists and media personnel to exercise their right to assemble and right to speech. On the one hand, these kinds of restrictions and social distancing rules provided a good opportunity for governments to register and introduce bills and policies without any intervention and challenges from the CSOs and non-state actors, that would eventually reduce the role of civil society; on the other hand, because of the imposed lockdowns, civil society activists and human rights organizations were not allowed to intervene and protest these oppressive attempts in any way. In Nepal, media reports have witnessed multiple incidents of assaults and attacks on journalists, civic activists, opposition leaders, independent advocates and human rights defenders during these times.
Shrinking civic space and impacts on CSOs
Shrinking civic space is an ongoing challenge for CSOs around the world and Nepal is not an exception. In South Asia, the governments have become increasingly repressive towards civil society. Though in comparison to most of the countries in the region, the civic space in Nepal is considered relatively tolerant but multiple research studies note that civic space in Nepal is ‘obstructed’ and it might get even worse in the future as we have lately witnessed constant political turmoil and government’s oppressive nature in the country. Furthermore, the recent governments in the past have tried various ways to shrink civic spaces via IT bill, NGO Act, the Media Council Bill, the Mass Communications Bill etc. Moreover, the ongoing COVID-19 situation and months of implemented lockdown at different times in the recent past has further created a challenging environment and limited the roles and capacity of the CSOs. CSOs in Nepal, have been expressing increasing concern about the shrinking space that they navigate in.
CSOs play a critical role in ensuring inclusive policy making by shining a spotlight on the needs of the most vulnerable, by propelling innovation, by identifying solutions to complex development challenges, and by taking responsibility for delivery of services on the ground. Civil society, including human rights defenders, also perform an imperative watchdog role. Without information from the frontlines it is difficult to hold states accountable for their commitments to promote peace, development and ensure human rights. When civic space is restricted, these vital roles are compromised. Civic space is crucial to achieving SDG targets, particularly target no. 16 and achieving the SDGs requires an expanded and safeguarded civic space, with the assured protection of human rights defenders. Without more robust, inclusive, and meaningful public participation in policy development and monitoring, the SDGs will be impossible to achieve.
Impact on Dalit CSOs
Civil society actors have played a crucial role in bringing the issues and concerns of marginalized and underprivileged groups into mainstream and decision-making spaces. A safe civic space and fear-free enabling environment for CSOs is important to promote and protect the rights of marginalized communities. Despite accounting for over 13 % of the population, Dalit communities across the country and civil society organizations working for their rights are witnessing the government’s efforts to reduce their civic space through restrictive measures. As the Dalit communities continue to be discriminated against and face multiple forms of socio-cultural violence, the CSOs and HRDs working for protecting and promoting Dalit communities are not always been acknowledged and face disparities across the country. Therefore, to talk openly, freely, and fearlessly for Dalit along with other marginalized communities the civic and political space for the social activists and HRDs should be promoted and protected.
As a result of social, cultural, and patriarchal norms, Dalit human rights defenders, including other minority groups such as women, Madeshi, and the LGBTIQ community, face additional layers of difficulties based on their caste, gender, and ethnicity in restrictive and even in open civic space environments. Moreover, caste influences how civic space violations are perceived. There have been examples of HRDs including Dalit human rights defenders being arrested and detained for engaging in human rights work. In the absence of civic space, it is challenging for Dalit rights activists to assert human rights and ensure rule of law.
Some of the study reports and publications:
Organizations that work on civic space at national, regional and global level:
