Civil Society Space

Reminds States of their obligation to respect and fully protect the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of all individuals, inter alia, the rights to freedom of expression and opinion and to assemble peacefully and associate freely, online as well as offline, including for persons espousing minority or dissenting views or beliefs, and that respect for all such rights, in relation to civil society, contributes to addressing and resolving challenges and issues that are important to society, such as addressing financial and economic crises, responding to public health crises, responding to humanitarian crises, including in the context of armed conflict, promoting the rule of law and accountability, achieving transitional justice goals, protecting the environment, realizing the right to development, empowering persons belonging to minorities and vulnerable groups, combating racism and racial discrimination, supporting crime prevention, countering corruption, promoting corporate social responsibility and accountability, combating human trafficking, empowering women and youth, promoting the rights of the child, advancing social justice and consumer protection, the realization of all human rights and the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

Urges States to create and maintain, in law and in practice, a safe and enabling environment in which civil society can operate free from hindrance and insecurity;

Urges States to ensure access to justice, and accountability, and to end impunity for human rights violations and abuses against civil society actors, including by putting in place, and where necessary reviewing and amending, relevant laws, policies, institutions and mechanisms to create and maintain a safe and enabling environment in which civil society can operate free from hindrance, insecurity and reprisals;

Calls upon States to ensure that domestic provisions on funding to civil society actors are in compliance with their international human rights obligations and commitments and are not misused to hinder the work or endanger the safety of civil society actors, and underlines the importance of the ability to solicit, receive and utilize resources for their work;

Urges all non-State actors to respect all human rights and not to undermine the capacity of civil society to operate free from hindrance and insecurity;

Encourages the special procedures of the Human Rights Council, the treaty bodies and relevant United Nations bodies, agencies, funds and programmes to continue to address relevant aspects of civil society space in the framework of their respective mandates;

Urges States to ensure that the issue of the creation and maintenance of a safe and enabling environment for civil society is addressed in the context of the universal periodic review, and encourages States in that regard to consult civil society in the preparation of their national reports, to consider including in their national reports information on relevant domestic provisions and steps, to consider making relevant recommendations to States under review, and to assist States in the implementation of relevant recommendations through, inter alia, the sharing of experiences, good practices and expertise and offering technical assistance on the basis of requests and with the consent of the States concerned, and conducting broad consultations with civil society in the follow-up to their review;

Also urges States to create and maintain, in law and in practice, a safe and enabling environment for civil society, and in this regard encourages States to use good practices such as, inter alia, those compiled in the report of the High Commissioner on practical recommendations for the creation and maintenance of a safe and enabling environment for civil society, based on good practices and lessons learned 2 by, inter alia:

Invites States to seek technical assistance and advice in this regard, including from the Office of the High Commissioner, relevant special procedures of the Human Rights Council and from regional human rights mechanisms;

Invites States and other stakeholders to brief, on a voluntary basis, the Human Rights Council at its thirty-fifth session on measures taken to implement the recommendations contained in the report of the High Commissioner;2

Requests the High Commissioner to prepare a report compiling information on the procedures and practices in respect of civil society involvement with regional and international organizations, including United Nations bodies, agencies, funds and programmes, and the contribution of civil society to their work and challenges and best practices, and in that regard to continue to engage with and seek input from those organizations and entities, as well as the views of States, national human rights institutions, civil society and other stakeholders, and to submit the compilation to the Human Rights Council at its thirty-eighth session;