Palestine

The CIVICUS Monitor downgrades the Occupied Palestinian Territories’ civic space to "Closed" ​​amid growing calls of genocide

December 4, 2024

The CIVICUS Monitor announced in a new report Wednesday that it has downgraded the Occupied Palestinian Territories to the "Closed" category - the lowest rating - in its annual global assessment of the state of civic space.

The downgrade reflects the impact on people’s fundamental freedoms to organise, protest and speak out against Israel’s genocidal campaign of military bombardment, on top of its established practices of illegal occupation and apartheid. Israel’s civic space rating also shows the government is severely restricting fundamental freedoms at home: it remains classed as having ‘Obstructed’ civic space, but its score has declined since the start of the current phase of conflict.

The Occupied Palestinian Territories' downgraded rating, detailed in the People Power Under Attack 2024 report, reflects how civic freedoms have significantly deteriorated under Israel’s current governing coalition. Among many other violations, Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has caused the highest number of deaths of journalists and aid workers reported in any conflict in modern history, according to the United Nations. Israel has upended the operations of humanitarian organisations by blocking aid, jeopardising the existence and funding of much-needed Palestinian civil society organisations and UNRWA, the UN’s agency for Palestinians. The Israeli Defense Forces have destroyed critical infrastructure, targeted humanitarian aid envoys, and undermined access to life-saving information through regular internet and communications shutdowns.

“Israel has become one of the worst human rights and civic space violators in the world," said Mandeep Tiwana, the Co Secretary General of CIVICUS. "Its actions have spurred global solidarity with the horrors being committed against people in Palestine and in Lebanon. It is more urgent than ever for all countries worldwide to recognise Palestine as a state and to place mounting pressure on Israel to comply with the orders issued by the International Court of Justice in relation to its investigation of genocide."

The CIVICUS Monitor, which is a research consortium led by global civil society alliance CIVICUS, tracked civic space conditions in 198 countries and territories throughout the year, which it compiled and analysed in People Power Under Attack 2024, released Wednesday. The CIVICUS Monitor determines each country’s rating based on data on civic space incidents collected by dozens of regional research partners around the world. Incidents can include violations against peaceful protests, censorship, arrests of human rights activists and more. Each country receives a rating between 0-100 based on recorded incidents, with higher scores indicating more open civic space.

This year, the Occupied Palestinian Territories’ score dropped 10 points from 23 to 13, moving it from the second-worst tier of “Repressed” into the worst category, "Closed”. A Closed rating means there is complete closure - in law and in practice - of civic space. There are 30 closed countries around the world.

“The Occupied Palestinian Territories experienced some of the harshest repression of all countries worldwide,” said Sylvia Mbataru, lead researcher on the Middle East at the CIVICUS Monitor. “Israeli leadership has systematically shared its intent to either erase, destroy, or flatten Gaza. The continued resilience of Palestinian people under attack and the solidarity of protesters and movements worldwide for Palestinian statehood and determination offer glimmers of hope amid the ruins of destruction.”

Israel’s ongoing bombardment of Gaza has also had a significant impact on civic freedoms in Israel. The government misused the state of emergency law to enact emergency regulations following 7 October without following the international principles of necessity and proportionality and at the risk of eroding the separation of powers. The Israeli government has passed at least 19 emergency regulations, violating several freedoms, including the rights of suspects and detainees. Several protests have taken place calling for the release of all hostages, an immediate ceasefire and an end to the brutal violence against Palestinian people. Protests have also taken place criticising Netanyahu’s failure to prevent the 7 October attack. Israel has severely restricted the right to protest through the disproportionate use of force and arbitrary arrests. It has also politicised the police force and persecuted several Palestinian human rights defenders living in Israel for their activism.

“The civic space in the occupied Palestinian territory is passing through an unprecedented time. It is subjected simultaneously to the Israeli occupation, to apartheid policies, and to continued occupation and ‎‎‎‎genocide,” said Amjad Al Shawa, Director of the Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO). “But it's also under constant surveillance by the Israeli legislative, executive, and judiciary branches, and abandoned by the silence of the international community."

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is currently wanted by the International Criminal Court, while the International Court of Justice has issued an interim ruling that Israel is plausibly committing genocide in Gaza.

CIVICUS is calling for Israel to respect international human rights and humanitarian law, end its illegal occupation of Palestine, immediately agree to an unconditional ceasefire and unimpeded humanitarian access, halt the detention and imprisonment of protesters, immediately release Palestinian human rights defenders and end its war on Lebanon.

Notes to the Editor:

The CIVICUS Monitor is a research tool that provides quantitative and qualitative data on the state of civil society and civic freedoms in 198 countries and territories. The data is generated through a collaboration with more than 20 civil society research partners, and input from a number of independent human rights evaluations. The data provides the basis for civic space ratings and countries can be rated as either 'Closed', 'Repressed', 'Obstructed', 'Narrowed' or 'Open'.

For more information or to arrange an interview please contact : media@civicus.org