Court overturns controversial law to constrain civil society organizations
Guatemala Impact | Negative Rating CIVICUS | Obstructed On February 27, President Alejandro Giammattei passed a law enabling the Executive to ban the activities of social organizations “disturbing public order” and take control over their finances. Those responsible for entities not complying with the law could be punished with imprisonment or business disqualification for a […]
President incites popular insurrection to pressure Congress
El Salvador Impact | Negative Rating CIVICUS | Obstructed On February 9, the President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, called on citizens to demonstrate outside the legislative palace to pressure Deputies to approve an international loan needed to finance his territorial control plan. Bukele appealed to the “people’s right to insurrection” which the constitution recognizes […]
Cuestioning the Government could be punishable by imprisonment
Mexico Impact | Negative Probability | Medium Rating CIVICUS | Repressed A proposal by the Attorney General’s Office (FGR, for its acronym in Spanish), announced in the Senate on January 14, could reinstate so-called “crimes against honor,” such as defamation, slander or insult, in the Penal Code. The FGR is proposing to punish thoseanybody damaging […]
A bill regulating civil associations is progressing with participation from CSOs
Ecuador Impact | Positive Probability | Medium Rating CIVICUS | Narrowed The National Assembly has reopened the debate on a bill to create a special legal regime guaranteeing the right of association, providing more legal security for CSOs. The initiative establishes that it is not necessary to be a legal entity to create a company, […]
Government reacts to wave of murders of social leaders
Colombia Impact | Positive Rating CIVICUS | Repressed The Ministry of the Interior will soon be presenting a comprehensive protection policy enshrining guarantees for social and community leaders, journalists and human rights defenders. The announcement came a few days after the Ombudsman’s Office revealed that 555 social leaders were killed between 2016 and 2019. The […]
Deputies halt bill requiring them to publish sworn income declarations
Paraguay Impact | Negative Probability | Medium Rating CIVICUS | Obstructed On February 4, the deputies left the session in Congress without a quorum, where they were due to pass a bill requiring public officials and legislators to publish their assets on the Comptroller General’s Office website. Currently, any citizens wishing to find this out […]
Government seeks to expand role of Armed Forces for internal security
Chile Impact | Negative Probability | High Rating CIVICUS | Narrowed On January 20, the Senate approved a constitutional reform driven by the Government increasing the President’s capacity to order the Armed Forces onto the streets when critical infrastructure is at risk. Currently, the President is obliged to decree a state of emergency previously for […]
Right to be forgotten: CSOs warn of threats to freedom of expression
Mexico Impact | Negative Probability | High Rating CIVICUS | Repressed Ricardo Monreal, the leader of the ruling party bloc in the Senate, has filed a bill establishing the right to be forgotten on digital platforms. If approved, content could be removed from the Internet at the request of anyone mentioned therein. Civil society organizations […]
Añez wants to veto the Human Rights Compliance Act
Bolivia Impact | Negative Rating CIVICUS | Obstructed On January 17, interim President Jeanine Añez sent the Constitutional Court a veto of the Human Rights Compliance Act, passed by the Legislative Assembly on January 14. The law Añez intends to veto bans any arbitrary detention and judicial harassment, among other actions curtailing the exercise of […]
Government proposes treating “disturbance of public order” as an act of terrorism
Guatemala Impact | Negative Probability | High Rating CIVICUS | Obstructed On January 14, a few days before being sworn in as president, Alejandro Giammattei submitted a bill to Congress aimed at ensuring that any actions threatening social order, personal integrity or property, would be considered terrorist acts. There is another proposal in the works […]