{"id":1466,"date":"2020-12-08T09:30:09","date_gmt":"2020-12-08T09:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=135225"},"modified":"2020-12-08T09:30:09","modified_gmt":"2020-12-08T09:30:09","slug":"civicus-criticises-pacific-countries-over-use-of-covid-to-curb-freedoms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2020\/12\/08\/civicus-criticises-pacific-countries-over-use-of-covid-to-curb-freedoms\/","title":{"rendered":"CIVICUS criticises Pacific countries over use of covid to curb freedoms"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Sri Krishnamurthi of the Pacific Media Centre<\/em><\/p>\n Australian authorities\u2019 heavy-handedness and the use of the covid-19 pandemic to curb civic and media freedoms are major concerns in the latest report, People Power Under Attack 2020,<\/a> released by the international non-profit organisation CIVICUS.<\/p>\n Australia was downgraded last year (2019) and is still rated as having freedoms \u201cnarrowed\u201d with Fiji, Nauru and Papua New Guinea remaining in the \u201cobstructed\u201d category.<\/p>\n However, there are bright spots for civic freedoms across the Pacific compared globally with the report finding that 87 percent of the world\u2019s population now live in closed, repressed or obstructed countries.<\/p>\n \u201cFor many observers, the state of civic space in Pacific may seem relatively positive. However civil society groups are concerned about the increasing use of laws to silence dissent,\u201d said Josef Benedict, Asia-Pacific civic space researcher for the CIVICUS Monitor.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThey are also worried about attempts to censor journalists and cover up criticism, especially around governments\u2019 mishandling of the pandemic,\u201d he said, as reported widely in Asia Pacific Report<\/em> in May.<\/a><\/p>\n\n