Civic Space Studies Association is calling all allies of civil society to stand against the defamation of human rights defenders.  The repression of civil society, academia, and press culminated under the state of emergency and continue through the unlawful bans against demonstrations and restrictions against freedom of speech.

The latest bans against LGBTI+ events, lawsuits against academics, journalists and rights defenders and defamation of the oppositional voices through the use of pro-government media are few examples of this repression. 

Within this context, Civic Space Studies Association is launching a three-pronged campaign: 

• Media monitoring: tracking the misinformation on the news articles in various news outlets. 
• Trial monitoring: following the hearings of the rights defenders and provide legal assistance to support the defenders.
• Social media campaign: spreading the word via #DefendingRightsisNOTaCrime and publishing videos about the experiences of the rights defenders from the ground. 

It is our duty to enlarge the shrinking the civil space and to show solidarity with all rights defenders. We call everyone who believes rights advocacy is not a criminal act to support our campaign.

How to support

You can share the videos on our social media accounts and tag your relevant posts with the hashtag #HakSavunmakSuçDeğildir and #DefendingRightsisNOTaCrime 

Campaign videos: