At its twenty-seventh session (September 2014), the Human Rights Council adopted resolution 27/31 (A/HRC/RES/27/31) on civil society space, in which it requested the High Commissioner to “prepare a compilation of practical recommendations for the creation and maintenance of a safe and enabling environment for civil society, based on good practices and lessons learned, and in this regard to continue to engage with and seek the views of States, the special procedures of the Human Rights Council, the treaty bodies, relevant United Nations bodies and agencies, regional human rights mechanisms, national human rights institutions, civil society and other stakeholders, and to submit the compilation to the Human Rights Council at its thirty-second session”.
To prepare this report, OHCHR requested input from various stakeholders, including States, relevant United Nations agencies, intergovernmental organizations, the treaty bodies, the special procedures, national human rights institutions, and non-governmental organizations.
Now, after two years of collective and global collaboration, the report, Practical recommendations for the creation and maintenance of a safe and enabling environment for civil society based on good practices and lessons learned, has been issued as document A/HRC/32/20.
In the present report the High Commissioner focuses on examples of practices that optimize civil society’s transformative potential. In this regard, he identifies five essential ingredients: a robust legal framework compliant with international standards that safeguards public freedoms and effective access to justice; a political environment conducive to civil society work; access to information; avenues for participation by civil society in decision-making processes; and long-term support and resources for civil society. You can read the whole report here.