Description
As part of the EU’s fundamental rights landscape, civil society organisations play a vital role in supporting the implementation of the EU’s fundamental values of human rights, democracy and the rule of law. Creating an enabling environment for civil society organisations to operate freely is relevant for the capacity of Member States to promote, protect, respect and fulfil people’s fundamental rights. This includes areas where States are implementing EU law, such as equality, fight against racism and xenophobia, data protection, non-discrimination, asylum and migration, and access to justice. FRA has reported on challenges to the civic space in the EU annually since 2018. While the patterns of civic space challenges have remained consistent, there is meanwhile much greater awareness about these - both among civil society organisations as well as policy makers, notably in the EU institutions. In 2022 and 2023, all three main EU institutions issued reports/statements recommending further action to protect the civic space and an enabling environment for civil society. In addition, in 2024, the European Commission issued a report on A thriving civic space to protect fundamental rights, containing a number of “measures to enhance the protection, support and engagement with civil society organisations and human rights defenders in the EU”.
However, at the same time, there is no comparative information yet on how at national level the civic space is monitored and protected, nor how the Commission Recommendation on Participation is being implemented.
This research aims to map national approaches/mechanisms/frameworks to civic space
monitoring, participation and protection, as a basis for further action. Find the report here.
