A recent survey by the EU System for an Enabling Environment (EU SEE) network reveals that the freezing of funds by the United States has directly affected 67% of civil society organizations (CSOs) in over 50 countries, with 40% of these losing between 25% and 50% of their budgets. This has led to cuts in essential programs on human rights, democracy, gender equality, and health. Gina Romero, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, expressed her concerns in an interview with CIVICUS about how this decision was made: “These measures are a stab at the heart of the right to freedom of association, particularly due to the way the decision was made—sudden, radical, without room for gradual action, lacking transparency, and with zero participation from the affected actors.”
By: Tanja Brok
Read the full article here.
Published by