Activities of Renate WEBER related to 2016/2324(INI)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on addressing shrinking civil society space in developing countries
Amendments (4)
Amendment 8 #
1 a. Condemns the shrinking of civil society space as a result of acts of harassment and intimidation against civil society organisations and individual activists, who are solely exercising their rights of freedom of expression, assembly and association;calls on governments to investigate and to ensure accountability for this kind of actions and attacks directed against NGOs,
Amendment 20 #
2. Considers that the EU should use its foreign policy instruments, including human rights and development instruments, to deal with the structural roots of the shrinking space problem and to design a multifaceted approach, since regimes are now using not only draconian NGO laws but also a wide range of direct and indirect tactics to limit the operation or financing of civil society organisations (CSOs), such as arbitrary registration and reporting requirements, distorted criminal charges, including criminal defamatory laws, raids and audits, and counterterrorism measures;
Amendment 31 #
3. Calls on the Commission, the European External Action Service (EEAS), the Member States and the EU Special Representative for Human Rights to be more vocal, consistent and timely in expressing objections to restrictive CSO laws and to exert effective and tailored pressure on the host governments in question and raise this issue systematically in political and human rights dialogues; considers that EU actors could exert more positivstresses the role and encourages further involvement of the EU delegations in supporting civil society organisations and individual activists, including by offering assistance in judicial processes; considers that the EU should exert more conditionality bywhen allocating additional funds to those governments allowing a wider space forfinancial assistance to governments, based on the space allowed to civil society;
Amendment 47 #
5. Requests the establishment of a ‘Shrinking Space Early Warning’ mechanism, with the involvement of the relevant EU institutions, capable of issuing an alert when a given government is preparing serious new restrictions against civil society, or when the government is using so-called government-organized non-governmental organisations (GONGOs) to simulate the existence of independent civil society, so that the EU is able to respond in a timelier, coordinated and tangible manner;