WARSAW, Poland – UN Special Rapporteur Maina Kiai spoke out against shrinking space for peaceful assembly and association rights this week in Warsaw, warning that governments who weaken civil society are “playing with fire, because the alternative … is extremism.” The comments came during an Oct. 22 consultation with Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)-region governments on civic space and civil society’s ability to access resources. “We are at a very difficult time in the world, and I think it’s not accidental that we are seeing extremism rising,” said Kiai, who is the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association. “A government that weakens civil society is playing with fire, because the alternative to peaceful assembly is extremism – and this, no one wishes to achieve.” The regional consultation with OSCE governments was part of an ongoing project on protecting civic space and civil society’s right to access resources with the Community of Democracies. A similar consultation hosting OSCE-region civil society groups was convened in May 2014. More than 20 representatives from OSCE governments attended the consultation. Most expressed broad support for the initiative and spoke of the need to protect civil society’s... Continue reading →
