Ten percent of all civic repression worldwide related to Palestine, study finds

A Johannesburg-based civic freedom monitor has pinpointed the Palestinian cause as the reason behind 10 percent of all global repression of free speech in 2024. 

The civil society alliance Civicus, which monitors the state of civic freedom globally, said the violations it documented either took place in occupied Palestinian territories or were “perpetrated against those expressing solidarity with Palestine” elsewhere, according to its 2024 report. 

“The lack of open civic space is rooted in a number of issues,” the report says.

Major conflicts, it explains, such as Israel’s war on Gaza, "have affected millions of people and their livelihoods and created the conditions for state and non-state sources to implement authoritarian policies”.

The report says that this is most notable in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena), which “continues to be home to some of the most repressive governments in the world”.

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Ten percent of all civic repression worldwide related to Palestine, study finds