A/HRC/44/25 II. Civil society: agents of change 7. Seeking to influence decisions about our lives and the future is a universal desire. The environment that enables people to access information, form opinions, contribute to decision-making relevant to their lives and mobilize others constitutes civic space. While the responsibility for taking decisions ultimately rests with public authorities, the participation of various sectors of society makes it possible to understand the real needs of people and communities, explore policy options and their impact on specific individuals and groups, and help balance conflicting interests. This, in turn, enhances the legitimacy of State decisions and their ownership by all members of society. 8. The Human Rights Council has consistently recognized the important role of civil society, including human rights defenders, at the local, national, regional and international levels. The Council has also consistently stressed that civil society facilitates the achievement of the purposes and principles of the United Nations, and that undue restrictions of civil society space had a negative impact upon their achievement. In particular, in its resolution 38/12, the Council emphasized the essential contribution that civil society made to regional and international organizations, including through advocacy and awareness-raising, the sharing of expertise and knowledge, and in the implementation, monitoring and evaluation processes. 9. Online space has become an integral part of civic space and has deeply impacted how people access information, debate, mobilize, organize and protest. Specifically, online platforms and Internet technologies have both positive and negative impacts on civic space, including the negative impact of online hate speech. The benefits of digital technologies have been stressed by both the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression and the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedoms of peaceful assembly and of association.4 At the same time, they highlighted that they can be used to threaten and silence dissent, through the use of surveillance technologies and the spread of disinformation and messages inciting hatred and violence. 5 10. Despite the positive contributions of civil society on many issues, from the struggle to end colonialism and apartheid to women’s rights movements, the tide against civil society is strong. There has been a rise in hostile discourse, as well as in online and offline abuse and harassment, disinformation and smear campaigns. Civil society organizations in different domains, including health, education, housing and humanitarian assistance, can face curbs on funding and complex registration rules, often under the pretext of national security. In July 2019, the Global Alliance for Reporting Progress on Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies, which focuses on Sustainable Development Goal 16, issued a report based on six regional consultations with civil society and case studies from 25 countries across different regions and development contexts. The Alliance found an increasing number of cases in which legal and political barriers were suppressing and weakening civil society. It stressed that shrinking civic space was highly likely to halt or reverse progress towards reducing inequality, ensuring inclusion and improving sustainability. 6 11. Human rights defenders are frequently subjected to attacks, criminalization or killings. Such defenders may include independent journalists, bloggers, peacebuilders, humanitarian workers, youth activists, activists for women’s equality and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex human rights, minorities and indigenous groups, land activists, environmental defenders, and activists working on migration and forced displacement. From 1 January to 31 October 2018, the United Nations recorded and verified 397 killings of human rights defenders, journalists and trade unionists in 41 countries. Every week, an average of nine people were killed on the front lines of efforts to build more inclusive and equal societies. 7 Too often, those who kill, attack and harass, whether on behalf of States or other groups, go unpunished. 4 5 6 7 See A/66/290 and A/HRC/41/41. See A/HRC/41/41, A/73/348, A/74/486, and A/HRC/41/35. See the Global Alliance for Reporting Progress on Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies, “Enabling the implementation of the 2030 Agenda through SDG 16+: anchoring peace, justice and inclusion” (United Nations, New York, July 2019). https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2019/goal-16/. 3