RATING OVERVIEW

The past year in the Americas showed that significant civic space changes can be incremental, just as they can be precipitous and abrupt. In most cases, it is not a radical transformation that drives civic space to improve or worsen but a combination of practices, regulations and policies. Structural change, such as the adoption of a new constitution, is rare. Instead, fundamental rights to freedoms of association, peaceful assembly and expression are often preserved and protected through specific court decisions, progressive adoption of enabling regulation, efforts by political leaders to recognise the importance of civil society and dozens of other developments.

This is illustrated by some of the rating changes seen this year. Chile and the USA move from the obstructed to the narrowed category. Both countries were downgraded in 2020 following the violent repression of mass protest movements and have seen leadership changes since then. In both cases improvements have not come about in a straight line but amid setbacks. Meanwhile, Guatemala is downgraded from obstructed to repressed, following years of gradual erosion of democratic institutions and reduction of the space for civil society and the press.

Of 35 countries in the region, there are now eight where civic space is considered open. Thirteen countries are rated as narrowed, six as obstructed and another six as repressed. In two countries civic space remains closed, the only category that saw no regional changes compared to 2021. In addition to the rating changes mentioned above, the Bahamas was moved from narrowed to open while Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica and Suriname moved to narrowed4.

In Chile, the path toward a new constitution was extended after voters rejected the proposal from a Constitutional Assembly convened on the heels of the 2019 social uprising. The south of the country saw continued unrest and militarisation, with the government of President Gabriel Boric failing to make progress in resolving the longstanding conflict with Indigenous Mapuche people.

However, the new government changed course in relation to the social uprising, withdrawing some prosecutions of protesters and taking steps to provide reparations and access to justice for victims of repression. President Boric also signed and championed the ratification of the Escazú Agreement, a binding environmental treaty that includes provisions to improve the situation of HRDs. While much more could be done to ensure durable changes, these advances have put Chile on a more positive trajectory, recognised in its rating upgrade.

A similar scenario is seen in the USA, where the Biden administration has sought to improve on Trump’s relationship with the media and stressed the importance of democratic institutions. The government took steps to safeguard fundamental freedoms and civil society, with policies to strengthen police accountability, support workplace organising and protect humanitarian assistance worldwide. Yet while civic space in the USA has improved enough to drive a change of rating, trends that negatively affected the space for civil society and the media endure. The year saw lawmakers adopting further restrictions on protests and a slew of state-level bills limiting free speech in schools. Incidents of excessive force and arbitrary arrests of protesters remain recurrent, and those charged are subject to increasingly harsh penalties. The authorities also continue to criminalise whistleblowers.

Conversely, in Guatemala, there was a much clearer trend in the deterioration of civic space as the government moved to undermine the rule of law and reverse the anti-corruption efforts of recent years. The authorities have gradually chipped away at judicial independence and adopted restrictive legislation. Over the past three years, the government of President Alejandro Giammattei has systematically pursued abusive prosecutions of peace and justice advocates, judicial officials and journalists, in an effort to silence critics and those who have sought to tackle political corruption. HRDs have faced increasing attacks, while the institutional spaces for monitoring their situation and ensuring their protection have been weakened. Increasing authoritarianism is particularly concerning in light of the country’s general elections in June 2023, which could lead to a consolidation of this reduced civic space.