Civil society and civic organisations' protection in the EU.

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Civil society plays a fundamental role by intervening where states cannot reach, often ensuring welfare services, more or less formalized. Across the European Union, several civic organisations are operating to ensure the respect of human rights, “contributing to policymaking, partnering with governments to implement public policies, delivering social and community support and services, raising awareness about important social issues, and representing diverse groups in vulnerable situations”. 

Furthermore, the European Commission described “an open civic space, with a vibrant civil society” as the core of European democracies, since engagement with civil society is one of the very cornerstones of the European Union policymaking process. 

Despite this, the European Union Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) recently published a report, “Civic Space Update: Enabling civil society to uphold EU values and strengthen democracy”, highlighting rising pressure on civic space that could undermine the status of democracy within the EU. Indeed, according to the Agency, “67% of human rights organisations report online attacks or threats, 60% report negative media coverage or smear campaigns, 39% experience politically motivated funding cuts and 36% excessive administrative controls or audits”. All of this fits into a broader framework of general geopolitical instability, social polarisation, and disinformation campaigns. 

The European Union has already taken steps to protect and support civil society, such as the EU’s Civil Society Strategy; however, it is evident that further measures are needed to protect civic organisations. As a matter of fact, the FRA has provided several actions at the EU and Member States levels to secure a comprehensive strategy: “improve monitoring: strengthen data collection and analysis of civic space developments, including of early warning signals; provide national support: develop or update strategies to protect civil society and address disinformation campaigns targeting civil society actors; protect freedoms: safeguard freedoms of association, assembly, and expression, ensuring that legislation does not disproportionately restrict civic space; enhance participation: allow for timely and meaningful input from CSOs in policy and law making, including when conducting human rights assessments; protect civil society actors: enhance protection measures for organisations under threat, including emergency support, legal assistance, and cybersecurity; secure funding: guarantee broad and non-discriminatory access to funding sources and mechanisms, in line with international standards and EU law”. 

Among these actions, monitoring constitutes a fundamental pillar, being at the very basis for preventive and responsive measures. Despite this, “FRA research demonstrates that this is currently not being done by Member State authorities, such as ministries or parliaments”. However, monitoring activities appear to be carried out mainly by “national human rights institutions (NHRIs), Ombudsman institutions and CSOs”. Nonetheless, the incomparability of findings still represents a major issue, as the criteria and indicators used by the various entities are often not comparable. 

In conclusion, FRA urges EU Member States to take action by following the given recommendations, which “seek to provide a blueprint for better monitoring of civic space developments at the EU and national levels, the development of national strategies and measures that prevent challenges to an enabling environment, strengthening the protection of civic space actors, securing access to funding, and allowing for enhanced participation and engagement in law- and policymaking as a key pillar of a healthy and resilient democracy”.

written by Alice Scotti