| Hi there,
Societies suffer when vibrant debate and freedom of speech are threatened. As space for civil society shrinks, the corrupt find it easier to abuse systems to their advantage. Illicit enrichment is a lot harder if you have the media, NGOs and citizens' groups keeping watch on your activities. Earlier this week, Egypt's president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi signed a law that creates restrictions on the work of some 46,000 NGOs in the country. Echoing legislative moves in countries such as Hungary, Russia and Turkey, the law cites national security among the grounds to control international NGOs working in Egypt. It also constrains domestic civil society groups, with all NGOs operating in the country now facing new bureaucratic hurdles, possible fines, and even jail time, potential dissolution or intervention from state security agencies. "We condemn the latest moves by the Egyptian authorities to restrict the space for civil society and the rights to freedom of association and expression in the country," said José Ugaz, Chair of Transparency International. In Mexico, already this year six journalists have been killed, making it the world's deadliest country for journalists. Too often, reporters have been targeted for their investigations into collusion between cartels, criminal gangs and state agents in the drug-fueled violence engulfing the country. Horrified by the impunity, Mexicans gathered in the national and regional capitals this week to call for an end to violence against journalists. Space for civil society is threatened around the world. Here are just a few of the threats and assaults on civil society we've spoken out about in the past few weeks: In Venezuela, we urged the government to stop using violence and abusing human rights in the face of mass protests
In the Maldives, we called on authorities to investigate the murder of activist blogger Yameen Rashid
In Bahrain, we called on the government to stop harassing anti-corruption activists after it blocked our partners from attending a UN human rights meeting
In Tunisia, we condemend threats of violence and intimidation aimed at our partner, and called for the government to investigate smear campaigns against them | 