Environmental organisations under authoritarianism
Despite the growing repressions on opposition, civil society and media representatives in Russia since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, not all civil society structures, including environmental protests, have disappeared. Across many regions in the country environmental groups are protesting against local problems, such as air and water pollution, mismanagement of waste or demolition of green zones. Some of the activists are being prosecuted, but a number of campaigns have also led to positive results.
Pride as Democratic Practice: What Movements Can Learn from Budapest Pride 2025 Resisting Orbán
Facing declining popularity, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán introduced a ban on pride marches and LGBTQ demonstrations in early 2025. Instead of deterring resistance, the ban was met with unprecedented solidarity
Journalism Under Authoritarianism in Serbia: A System Designed to Intimidate
Authoritarian systems rely on the normalisation of violence. Threats against journalists are very rarely investigated, creating an atmosphere of impunity. As for physical attacks, they are fairly rare, but they happen – and there is also little interest in fully investigating them. The message is clear: you are on your own.
Joint appeal for a Council of Europe Convention on Transnational Repression
We, the undersigned civil society organisations, call upon the Member States of the Council of Europe
to take urgent and collective action to address the growing phenomenon of transnational repression
(TNR) through the adoption of a Council of Europe Convention dedicated to preventing and combating this serious and evolving threat to human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe.
Multilateralism Under Pressure: Civil Society’s Response and the Future of the UN
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the situation in the UN got very difficult. Governments can barely agree on anything. The culture of consensus, when governments could just come together and decide something, is not happening anymore.
What do the recent presidential “elections” mean for Belarusian civil society?
Authoritarian regimes never have a positive attitude toward civil society, especially its institutionalised forms and civil society organisations.
Annual Conference in Berlin on “Democracies in Peril”
This year our Annual Conference focused on the theme “Democracies in peril?
Welcome our new Executive Director, Nataliya Novakova
The Board of the Civil Society Forum (CSF) is delighted to announce the appointment of Nataliya Novakova as the Forum’s new Executive Director effective from September 1, 2024, following an extensive search and selection process.
Europe Lab 2024 Explores “Changing Tides” in Jáchymov, Czechia
The historic town of Jáchymov, nestled in the Ore Mountains of Czechia, set the stage for Europe Lab 2024, an annual forum that unites young leaders and changemakers from across Europe.
Statement by the Board: Designating organisations as “foreign agents” is dangerous and undemocratic.
On Tuesday May 14 2024, the Georgian parliament approved controversial plans to brand hundreds of NGOs and media outlets as “foreign agents”, by 84 votes to 30.
