Summary

Civil society organizations seek to express international solidarity ideas through regional and international solidarity networks but are increasingly facing challenges, including censorship, harassment, blacklisting, investigation, deportation, financial penalization or defunding, criminal prosecution and restriction of access to digital platforms to share solidarity ideas. In the present report, prepared pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 53/5, the Independent Expert on human rights and international solidarity, Cecilia M. Bailliet, confirms the growing trend of shrinking civic space in both the physical and the digital arenas, which has a negative impact on opportunities for expressing international solidarity. She provides recommendations to States, companies and international organizations in order to better support civil society’s right to engage in the exchange of international solidarity ideas, including a recommendation concerning the creation of a United Nations digital international solidarity platform. Suppression of the non-violent expression of international solidarity will only foment violence. States should create new channels for the expression of solidarity to support social cohesion. In the present report, the Independent Expert calls upon States to collaborate in the development of international solidarity law, through the adoption of the revised draft declaration on the right to international solidarity, to provide a foundation for reopening spaces for expressions of solidarity by civil society.