Civil Society Observatory

Over the past years, civic space in Lebanon has been increasingly contained with oppressive measures, including restrictions on freedom of assembly, arrests, summonings, and interrogations of civil society actors and activists, as well as violent repression of demonstrations, among others. Based on our Mapping of Collective Actions in Lebanon, and looking at data between January 2021 and March 2022, 84 collective actions denounced the arbitrary arrests and summonings of activists, journalists, and artists.

Civic space in Lebanon has been progressively shrinking over the past years, with scrutiny, censorship, and/or repression continuously and increasingly directed towards civil society actors, initiatives, and social movements. Worldwide, Covid-19 related lockdowns and state of emergency have contributed to the weakening of civic space. In Lebanon, this is further compounded, as the political establishment routinely resorts to demonising civil society, and imposes control and scrutiny over its activities.