International news

The 2025 Synthesis Report on the Digital Democracy Ecosystem by CIVICUS reveals how digital civic spaces are rapidly shrinking worldwide through government surveillance, internet shutdowns, censorship, and biased algorithms. Examining six global regions from East Asia to Sub-Saharan Africa, the report documents how these tactics disproportionately silence youth movements, feminist networks, Indigenous groups, journalists, and grassroots organizers, particularly in the Global South. Despite highlighting some positive examples like Taiwan's civic-tech innovations and persistent activism through platforms like WhatsApp and TikTok, the report emphasizes that digital repression is outpacing digital resilience as power increasingly favors governments and tech platforms over grassroots civic movements. The report concludes that civil society's continued presence in digital spaces, despite these challenges, reflects both necessity and resistance in the fight to preserve democratic participation.

Hundreds of Kashmiri medical students who obtained their degrees from Pakistani institutions are caught in bureaucratic limbo, unable to practice medicine in India despite completing their education. In April 2022, India's National Medical Commission (NMC) issued a notice barring Indian students enrolled in Pakistani medical colleges from taking the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE) or seeking employment in India, with exceptions for those who joined before December 2018 or received security clearance from the Ministry of Home Affairs. Many graduates, including those who completed their studies before the 2018 cutoff, are still awaiting eligibility certificates, forcing them to work unofficially as observers in private hospitals rather than as recognized doctors. Economic factors, cultural similarities, and geographic proximity had previously made Pakistan an attractive option for Kashmiri students unable to secure admission to Indian medical colleges through the competitive NEET exam.

African Americans on social media recently expressed surprise and excitement upon discovering Black people living in Scotland, with fitness influencer Torgi Squire's viral TikTok video sparking particular interest. Following these reactions, Afro-Scots began sharing their experiences living in the European country, where they make up 1.2% of the population according to the UK's 2022 Census. Despite Scotland's Black population dating back to the 15th century, many Afro-Scots face racism and prejudice, as highlighted by marketing specialist Deborah Mattaka who shared stories of discrimination she experienced growing up. In response to these issues, researchers are advocating for the establishment of the Scottish Museum of Empire, Slavery, Colonialism and Migration (SMESCM) to increase representation and recognition of Scotland's diverse history.

The residents of Kodamanov village in Kazakhstan's Kyzylorda province have been engaged in a five-year legal battle against the Chinese-owned Gezhouba Shieli cement plant, which they claim is causing serious pollution and health problems. Despite winning court decisions that ruled the plant violated regulations by operating only 500 meters from homes instead of the required 1,000 meters, their victory was undermined when the Kazakh government amended regulations to allow "historically established" facilities to reduce their protection zones. The $178 million plant, part of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) investments in Kazakhstan worth $27.4 billion, continues operating despite documented health impacts on villagers, particularly respiratory issues in children. The case illustrates how economic partnerships with China often prioritize investment over environmental concerns and community wellbeing.

Vida Rabbani, a journalist imprisoned in Tehran's Evin Prison following Iran's 2022 anti-government protests, transformed her confinement into artistic expression by creating paintings on bedsheets using smuggled supplies. Despite having no formal artistic training, Rabbani documented prison life through portraits of fellow inmates, interior scenes, and symbolic murals that preserved the experiences of women political prisoners. Over her 32-month imprisonment before her sentence was suspended, her art evolved from wall murals to intimate portraits that served as visual documentation where photography was banned. Rabbani's resourceful artistic practice became both personal therapy and collective resistance, allowing her to maintain purpose while creating a visual record of life inside Iran's notorious women's prison ward.

Pakistan has intensified internet shutdowns in Balochistan province, most recently ordering a province-wide mobile internet suspension across all 36 districts from August 6-31, 2025. The region has experienced repeated connectivity disruptions, with the country seeing 18 deliberate shutdowns in 2024 alone that lasted 9,735 hours and caused an estimated $1.62 billion in economic losses. These shutdowns typically coincide with politically sensitive dates, protests, or security incidents, with authorities claiming they're necessary for national security despite limited evidence of effectiveness. The blackouts severely impact daily life for Balochistan residents, preventing students from attending online classes, businesses from accessing digital banking, journalists from reporting, and humanitarian operations from functioning effectively, further isolating an already marginalized population.

Several West African nations have implemented citizenship laws for African diaspora members as part of reconciliation efforts addressing the historical injustices of the transatlantic slave trade. Benin recently enacted a law allowing descendants of enslaved people to apply for citizenship through a digital platform if they can provide proof of Sub-Saharan African ancestry. Following Ghana's successful 2019 Year of Return, the country launched the Beyond the Return initiative (2020-2030) offering long-term residency and selective citizenship to diaspora members, while Guinea-Bissau has granted citizenship to Afro-descendants under its Decade of Return initiative launched in 2021. These programs aim to foster cultural reconnection while strategically leveraging diaspora financial and human capital for economic development, with remittance flows to Sub-Saharan Africa reaching USD 54 billion in 2023.

Hong Kong resident Anthony Chiu has relocated to the UK with his daughter following harassment over his Porsche's license plate number US8964, which references the June 4 Tiananmen Square Massacre. Over the past year, Chiu and his family faced escalating threats, including anonymous letters threatening to report him to national security police, complaints against his wife at her workplace, interrogation of his brother-in-law by Chinese authorities, and accusations against his daughter at school. Despite initially using the plate without issue since 2021, Chiu's car was seized by police for three consecutive years on June 4th for alleged technical reasons, reflecting Hong Kong's increasingly restrictive stance on commemorating the 1989 massacre since the implementation of the National Security Law.

Zimbabwe's Parirenyatwa Hospital recently hosted a "heart camp" where Egyptian surgeons collaborated with local doctors to provide free open-heart surgeries for 10 children. This initiative offers critical care for families who cannot afford the $15,000 cost of surgeries abroad, in a country with only five cardiothoracic surgeons and chronic equipment shortages in public hospitals. Zimbabwe resumed open-heart operations in 2023 after a five-year pause due to economic turmoil, with 55 children receiving surgery from local surgeons and 19 more benefiting from international surgical camps. For parents like Vimbainashe Chakanungwa, whose 3-year-old daughter Gracious received life-saving surgery, the program represents a miracle in a country where an estimated 4,500 children are born with heart disease annually, with 30% likely to die in their first year without treatment.

On July 23, 2025, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a landmark Advisory Opinion affirming that states have a legal obligation to protect the environment from greenhouse gas emissions and may be held legally responsible for failing to do so. The opinion originated from a campaign initiated in 2019 by law students from the University of the South Pacific who convinced the Vanuatu government to take climate injustice concerns to the ICJ. Following Vanuatu's leadership, the United Nations approved a resolution in March 2023 requesting the ICJ's opinion on states' obligations under international law regarding environmental protection. The resulting opinion is being celebrated throughout Pacific nations as a historic victory that provides legal grounds for seeking climate justice and holding major polluting nations accountable.

The article examines how thousands of Georgians have been participating in leaderless, self-organized pro-EU protests in Tbilisi since November 2024. Despite high levels of informal civic engagement across Georgia, with 74% of citizens helping friends with household chores and 52% donating to charity, formal participation in democratic organizations remains surprisingly low at just 8%. This disconnect stems from an institutional mismatch between how Georgians traditionally cooperate through informal networks based on personal trust and how formal civil society organizations operate. The article contrasts today's situation with earlier Georgian civic movements and highlights examples like the Georgian Young Lawyers' Association that have successfully bridged this gap by addressing concrete problems affecting everyday citizens.

Mzia Amaghlobeli, a respected investigative journalist and founder of independent news outlets in Georgia, has been sentenced to two years in prison for slapping a police chief during anti-government protests in January 2025. Although initially facing charges that could have resulted in up to seven years imprisonment, she was convicted on lesser charges of resisting and using violence against law enforcement. The verdict has triggered widespread condemnation from 24 diplomatic missions, including the European Union, who issued a joint statement through the Media Freedom Coalition describing the sentence as "disproportionate and politically motivated." This case occurs amid growing tensions in Georgia, where the ruling Georgian Dream party has been accused of moving away from EU integration toward Russia and implementing increasing repression against journalists and civil society.

Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif was killed on August 10, 2025, along with five other journalists in Gaza, in what the author describes as a targeted assassination by Israel. Israel claimed al-Sharif was a Hamas member, a justification the author characterizes as false and part of a pattern of targeting journalists. The article criticizes Western media outlets like the BBC and Reuters for uncritically repeating Israel's claims without proper journalistic scrutiny. The author argues that racial dynamics influence Western media's response, suggesting Palestinian journalists' deaths receive less outrage than would be expected if Western journalists were similarly targeted.

In April 2025, Angika language speakers and supporters gathered in Bhagalpur, India for a two-day Language-Digital Activism Workshop organized by Angika Wikimedians and Rising Voices to strengthen the language's online presence. The workshop, attended by 22 selected participants and five veteran Angika writers, focused on eight key strategies for digital language revitalization and included discussions about language rights, community bonds, and digital initiatives. Participants created personal roadmaps for supporting Angika digitally through various means including music, apps, children's books, and Wikimedia projects. Following strong interest, organizers held a follow-up online workshop in July 2025 focused specifically on Wikipedia editing to further enhance Angika's digital visibility.

A group of language advocates, led by Kambai Akau, is working to preserve and revitalize the Tyap language of Nigeria through Wikimedia platforms launched in 2020. The Tyap language, spoken in Nigeria's Middle-Belt region, faces extinction threats due to Hausa language dominance and declining usage among younger generations. Despite challenges including limited educational resources, lack of standardized documentation, and low literacy rates in the language, the Tyap Wikimedians Organization has successfully established Wikipedia and Wiktionary pages in Tyap, making it the seventh language-specific Wikipedia approved in Nigeria. The organization is also working on publishing a Tyap dictionary in partnership with Wikitongues while battling technical constraints, funding limitations, and the perception of Tyap as inferior to English and Hausa.

The Israeli military destroyed the only seed bank in the West Bank on July 31, 2025, bulldozing the Union of Agricultural Work Committees' (UAWC) seed-multiplication unit in Hebron without warning. This facility had preserved over 70 varieties of indigenous heirloom seeds, many unique to Palestine, representing both agricultural biodiversity and cultural heritage accumulated through generations of Palestinian seed saving. The destruction is part of a documented pattern where Palestinian agricultural resources, including farmland, olive groves, and seed repositories, have been systematically targeted. International organizations and civil society groups have condemned the act, with some framing it as part of broader cultural genocide and potential war crimes under international law.

After launching the Women in Afghanistan (WIA) program in 2014, agriculture professor Sophia Wilcox connected with numerous Afghan women whose lives have been devastated by the Taliban's return to power in 2021. The article profiles three women affected by the regime change: Fatima, an education activist now in hiding with her family; Dr. Zahra, a midwife restricted from properly practicing her profession; and Dr. Maryam, a former polio vaccination advocate who managed to escape to the US. Their stories illustrate the severe regression of women's rights in Afghanistan, where education for girls is banned and healthcare workers face extreme restrictions, compounded by the freezing of refugee admissions programs that might have offered escape routes.

Veteran Macau democrat and former lawmaker Au Kam San was arrested on July 30, 2024, for allegedly endangering national security through foreign ties and spreading false information. This marks the first national security case since Macau enacted its national security law in 2009, with police claiming Au had connections with overseas anti-China organizations since 2022 and provided seditious information to foreign entities. Au, who served as a city council member from 1993-2001 and legislator from 2001-2021, has remained a vocal critic of government policies and recently commented on the 2024 Chief Executive election and candidate disqualifications. The European Union condemned the arrest as eroding political pluralism in Macau, while the Macau government responded that it would handle the case "strictly according to law."

The Sankofa Foundation Incorporated is hosting the inaugural KidzAFest Cultural Exchange from August 17-31, featuring performances by South Africa's Mzansi Youth Choir and Uganda's Ghetto Kids dance team. This two-week event aims to preserve African storytelling traditions through music and dance performances across the D.C. area, culminating in a special Kidz Theater Production at the Kennedy Center's Concert Hall on August 30. The program showcases African folktales and cultural expressions while promoting values like humility, love, and empathy to inspire young audiences. Founders of both performing groups share a commitment to using arts to transform the lives of underprivileged youth, creating opportunities for them to develop their talents while maintaining cultural pride and identity.

Mauritania's fishing industry, once vibrant and sustainable, now faces severe threats from large-scale foreign industrial fishing vessels, with Chinese trawlers comprising approximately 80 percent of industrial ships in Mauritanian waters. This dominance stems from a 2010 agreement granting China 25-year fishing rights in exchange for a $100 million investment in a fish processing plant in Nouadhibou. The resulting unchecked fishing has devastated local fish stocks, particularly affecting traditional fishermen who cannot compete with technologically advanced Chinese vessels. While fishing accounts for 10 percent of Mauritania's GDP and up to 50 percent of exports, providing hundreds of thousands of jobs, the current situation has created unfavorable conditions for local development, with traditional fishermen experiencing sharp declines in their catches and income.

A ten-day internet and mobile phone service shutdown in North Waziristan, Pakistan from July 7-17, 2025 severely disrupted the local economy, government operations, education, and journalism. The blackout, which followed a June 28 suicide attack on security forces, caused significant financial losses to thousands of local traders and businesses, with daily losses estimated at 200,000-300,000 Pakistani Rupees per trader. Though services were restored after tribal elders met with government officials on July 11, connectivity remains poor in many areas, particularly affecting the region's approximately 693,300 residents who already experience lower internet penetration rates compared to Pakistan's national average of 45.7 percent.

Greek protesters gathered at Piraeus port on July 16th to block the loading of suspected military cargo bound for Israel, reflecting growing anger over Greece's perceived complicity in Israel's Gaza offensive. The demonstration, organized by trade unions, leftist groups, anarchists, and communist collectives, targeted the "Ever Golden" cargo ship believed to be carrying steel for Israeli military use. The dockworkers union (ENEDEP) played a key role, refusing to allow the unloading of five containers of suspected military-grade steel while the ship remained docked. Protesters condemned both Greek and Israeli governments, framing their actions as rejection of Greece's role as a logistical enabler of foreign wars and expressing solidarity with Palestine through flags, keffiyehs, and chants.

A global surge in technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) is silencing women across Africa and beyond, with a recent survey showing over half of women entrepreneurs in developing countries face online harassment. This digital abuse ranges from deepfakes to doxxing and has led four in ten women to withdraw from public life, with even higher rates among female journalists. In response, a "Safety by Design" approach is gaining traction, emphasizing built-in protections in digital platforms rather than after-the-fact remediation. Across Africa, organizations like Safe Sisters, GRIT, and Pollicy are developing innovative solutions while countries such as Ghana, South Africa, and Kenya implement stronger legal frameworks to combat these digital threats.

Black Americans seeking refuge from racism in the United States by relocating to African countries like Ghana are sometimes bringing problematic Western privilege with them. The article highlights how Ghana's "Year of Return" and "Beyond the Return" campaigns, which invited diasporans to reconnect with their African roots, have revealed negative impacts including land disputes, gentrification, and economic disruption. In one case, diasporans threatened local Ghanaian landowners with guns over disputed farmland, while in other instances, their presence has driven up property values, forcing locals to relocate. The author urges Black Americans moving to African countries to recognize their Western privilege, understand local laws and cultures, and avoid reproducing the same oppressive dynamics they seek to escape.

Grigory Skvortsov, a Russian musician and urban explorer from Perm, was sentenced to 16 years in a high-security penal colony for state treason after emailing publicly available archives about Soviet bunkers to an American journalist. The materials in question came from historian Dmitry Yurkov's book "Soviet 'Secret Bunkers'" and its supplementary archive pack, which had been publicly sold and remained accessible online even after Skvortsov's arrest. Despite the information being previously declassified and widely available, Russian authorities claimed Skvortsov had shared sensitive military infrastructure information with a foreign national. His case highlights a troubling pattern in Russia where publicly available information can be retroactively classified as secret, leading to severe treason charges.

Nigeria continues to face significant security challenges despite efforts by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's administration to combat them. According to the 2024 Global Peace Index, Nigeria ranks 147th out of 163 nations globally, reflecting persistent violence and instability that undermine national development. While the government has reported some success in neutralizing criminals, recovering weapons, and improving security in previously terrorized regions, Nigeria still ranks high in global crime and terrorism indices. Ongoing threats include Boko Haram insurgency, farmer-herder conflicts, separatist movements, kidnapping, and banditry, all of which severely impact the economy and everyday life of Nigerians.

The BJP-led Assam government under Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has intensified eviction drives targeting Bengali-speaking Muslim communities, known locally as "Miyas." Since coming to power in 2021, Sarma has consistently framed these communities as illegal encroachers and threats to Assam's culture, accusing them of various forms of "jihad" including land encroachment, excessive fertilizer use, and causing floods. These eviction operations have displaced thousands of families, with recent drives in 2025 affecting areas in Nalbari, Dhubri, and Goalpara districts, demolishing homes, mosques, and other structures. Opposition parties and organizations, including the All Assam Minority Students Union and All India United Democratic Front, have condemned these actions as discriminatory and inhumane, while the government maintains it is reclaiming illegally occupied land.

Pan-African Women's Day (PAWD), commemorated on July 31, celebrates the founding of the Pan-African Women's Organization (PAWO) and promotes global solidarity among women in the diaspora fighting against colonialism. The All-African Women's Revolutionary Union (AAWRU) and the All-African People's Revolutionary Party (AAPRP) recently hosted a webinar featuring activists discussing the 2025 theme "Advancing Social and Economic Justice for African Women Reparations." Speakers from Niger, South Sudan, and Kenya highlighted challenges including violence against women, educational inequality, and femicide, while emphasizing the importance of women leading in liberation struggles. The participants advocated for global solidarity, grassroots movements, and equal access to educational and economic resources as essential steps toward women's liberation.

Ghanaian lawmakers are attempting to pass the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Act, 2024, an anti-LGBTQ+ bill that would criminalize LGBTQ+ activities and disband queer organizations in the country. Solomon Joskine Kwashie Atsuvia, a queer Ghanaian activist working in human rights and HIV advocacy, shared his experiences of facing online abuse, threats, and blackmail due to his sexuality. In a comprehensive interview, Atsuvia described specific incidents where he was doxed and received death threats, forcing him to relocate temporarily, while noting that reporting mechanisms often provide inadequate protection for LGBTQ+ individuals in Ghana. He emphasized that both stronger digital safety protections and fundamental legal reforms are needed to protect LGBTQ+ Ghanaians both online and offline.

Investigative journalists imprisoned in Azerbaijan are facing severe conditions and retaliation for reporting on prison system corruption. Several Abzas Media journalists, including Sevinc Vagifgizi who was sentenced to nine years, have documented deplorable living conditions within facilities, where basic amenities like fans, refrigerators, and clean water are scarce despite the government allocating approximately USD 115 million to the penitentiary service in 2025. When the journalists began a hunger strike to protest these conditions and demand compliance with a court order, prison authorities responded by transferring them to worse cells, physically assaulting at least one journalist, and restricting water access for all inmates. The situation highlights how Azerbaijan's prison system weaponizes basic human rights while simultaneously receiving significant funding from both the government and European organizations.