Welcome to the European Shrinking Civic Space platform

Over the last few years, a global trend has emerged, whereby civil society’s scope of action (that is to say, the area of society between the state, the market and the private family sphere, in which citizens can become involved in voluntary, collective actions and organisations without intending to make a profit), is increasingly subjected to attacks in many countries around the world. These attacks come from state actors, and also from businesses, ranging from legal restrictions and bureaucratic harassment even to physical and psychological violence against activists. After a period of growth and increased political recognition for civil society organisations (CSOs), especially in the former Eastern bloc countries or in Latin America, a phase of the deligitimisation of civil society actors is emerging.