Journalists and activists are critical intermediaries connecting public officials with citizens and serving as government watchdogs. OGP members are committed to helping protect their rights and safety.
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Activists and journalists help keep governments transparent and accountable for their actions by ensuring that information reaches the public. They serve as critical intermediaries, connecting public institutions and decision-makers with everyday citizens. They demand data, file right to information requests, and follow the stories. Without them, data stays data and never becomes investigations, legal actions, or advocacy.
Yet, over two-thirds of OGP countries face severe to moderate constraints to a free and independent media, according to Freedom House. In four out of five OGP countries, journalists report harassment, often from non-state actors. In a small but notable minority of OGP countries, activists face harassment, stigmatization, detention, and violence. In 50 OGP countries, there is inadequate investigation and prosecution of threats against journalists.
OGP encourages journalists and activists to use the OGP process to help further the right to information and fight corruption. Journalists have participated in OGP processes and supported the implementation of OGP commitments in Croatia, Argentina, Armenia, Nigeria, and the Philippines.
Upholding the rights of journalists and activists and ensuring their safety is fundamental to open government.
In this episode, Khadija Ismayilova shares how her reporting on government corruption led to blackmail, intrusive surveillance, and unjust imprisonment and how we can create spaces for journalists to hold power to account without fear of retaliation.
A vibrant and robust civic space is essential to open government. While we mark 10 years since OGP’s founding this year, we’re also facing 15 years of a steady decline in civil liberties, including in some OGP countries. In recent…
As civic freedoms continue to decline globally, protecting and expanding civic space is a bigger focus now than ever before for members of Open Government Partnership (OGP).
Find more recommendations of actions to protect and enhance civic space here.
As civic freedoms continue to decline globally, protecting and expanding civic space is a bigger focus now than ever before…
2023, Document, PDF
Enhancing and protecting civic space is vital to achieving OGP’s bold goals of accelerating economic recovery, tackling systemic inequalities, and…
2021, , Web Page
2021, Research Product, Web Page
CIVICUS shares the status of civic freedoms in 196 countries, highlights regional trends and gives recommendations for enhancing civic space.
2020, Outbound Link, Web Page
Media and open government are underpinned by the shared belief in open and inclusive dialogue as a mechanism for more…
2019, Document, PDF
Activists and journalists serve as critical intermediaries, connecting public institutions and decision-makers with everyday citizens.
2019, Research Product, Web Page
Find examples of approaches, tools, and strategies from existing cross-disciplinary literature on the transparency, accountability, and civic participation space.
2019, Outbound Link, Web Page
In CIVICUS' flagship annual publication find hundreds of pages of insight into the key trends affecting civil society organisations (CSOs)…
2019, Outbound Link, Web Page
Disinformation, online gender-based violence (GBV), and hate speech greatly impact online civic space and democratic processes. Governments should take steps to promote healthy and safe information ecosystems online while also protecting the exercise of online civic freedoms.
Access to an open and free internet is integral to individuals’ and organizations’ ability to exercise fundamental freedoms online, and to benefit from, and contribute to, digital open government initiatives.
What is the Open Government Challenge and why was it launched? The Open Government Challenge is a call to action for all members to raise ambition in ten areas of open government to help strengthen our democracies and improve our…
Meet Sarah Wesonga, Program Officer for Transparency and Access to Information at ARTICLE 19 Eastern Africa.
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