Restrictions impede civil society organisations' ability to operate: Report

The overall situation of civil society organisations (CSOs), especially those focused on democracy, good governance, and human rights, in Bangladesh remained repressed, said a study report.

The legal environment for CSOs, which are governed by several regulatory frameworks, declined moderately in 2021 while restrictions on civic space continued to impede CSOs' ability to operate, said the Civil Society Organisations Sustainability Index (CSOSI) Global Report 2021 published by the USAID on Wednesday. 

The situation prevails with ongoing crises such as legal complications, restrictions on expression, bureaucratic complications, funding uncertainty, and the pandemic, said the report.

The CSOs faced obstacles and bureaucratic harassment in legal processes, including complicated registration, renewal issues, and delayed approval for foreign support, according to the global index. 

The levels of sustainability are organised into three broad clusters: Sustainability Enhanced (1.0 to 3.0), Sustainability Evolving (3.1 to 5.0), and Sustainability Impeded (5.1 to 7.0). 

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) developed the index and has been producing the reports since 1997. Bangladesh first came under this indexing in 2014.

The 2021 CSO Sustainability Index for Bangladesh, as it is called, shows that the overall sustainability index remained static at 4.0, the same as that of 2020.  The figure was 3.5, the best, in 2015, a year after Bangladesh was included in the annual estimate. The scores continued to decline for the next five years.

The report said NGO Affairs Bureau (NGOAB) increasingly delayed approvals of foreign grants in 2021, imposing new conditionalities in the process.

This happened despite the fact that the CSO sector in Bangladesh has long depended heavily on foreign and local donors, including government and multilateral institutions like the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and UN, and bilateral donors like the USAID, FCDO, UKAid, and Sida, said the report.

"CSOs were hesitant to carry out advocacy campaigns that may challenge the government, especially in regards to policy making, and the public image of CSOs deteriorated slightly with an increase of negative media coverage," it reads.

Increasing restrictions on civic space also posed challenges for CSO operations, especially media, in 2021. As in previous years, the Digital Security Act was used to severely limit freedom of expression, stifling dissent and perceived criticism.

The latest report, citing another study, said the state of civic space in Bangladesh remained "repressed".