‘Hostile, authoritarian’ UK downgraded in civic freedoms index
-Civicus Monitor cites hostility towards campaigners and charities, and clamp down on public protests

“充满敌意、专制”——英国公民自由指数下降
——“公民监测”指出了对活动人士和慈善机构的敌意，以及对公众抗议活动的镇压


(The UK’s proposed laws to restrict civic freedoms such as the right to peaceful assembly and protest means it is now classified as “obstructed” – putting it alongside countries such as Poland, South Africa and Hungary.)

（英国拟议的法律限制公民自由，比如和平集会和抗议的权利，这意味着英国现在被列为“受阻”类别——与波兰、南非和匈牙利等国并列。）
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The UK has been downgraded in an annual global index of civic freedoms as a result of the government’s “increasingly authoritarian” drive to impose restrictive and punitive laws on public protests.

英国在一项年度全球公民自由指数中被降级，原因是政府“越来越专制”地对公众抗议活动实施限制性和惩罚性法律。

The Civicus Monitor, which tracks the democratic and civic health of 197 countries across the world, said the UK government was creating a “hostile environment” towards campaigners, charities and other civil society bodies.

追踪全球197个国家民主和公民健康状况的“公民监测”表示，英国政府正在对活动人士、慈善机构和其他公民社会团体营造一种“敌视环境”。

The UK’s willingness to clamp down on civic freedoms such as the right to peaceful assembly means it is now classified as “obstructed” – putting it alongside countries such as Poland, South Africa and Hungary.

英国愿意压制和平集会权等公民自由，这意味着它现在被列为“受阻”类别——与波兰、南非和匈牙利等国并列。
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“The downgrade reflects the worrying trends we are seeing in restrictions across civil society that are threatening our democracy. The government should be setting a positive example to countries that have clamped down on civic space,” said Stephanie Draper, the chief executive of the Bond charity, a partner in the Civicus collaboration.

“评级下调反映了我们在公民社会看到的威胁我们民主的种种限制的令人担忧的趋势。政府应该为那些限制公民空间的国家树立一个积极的榜样，”邦德慈善机构的首席执行官斯蒂芬妮·德雷珀说，她是“公民监测”合伙人之一。

She added: “The UK is becoming increasingly authoritarian and is among concerning company in the Civicus Monitor ratings as restrictive laws and dangerous rhetoric are creating a hostile environment towards civil society in the UK.”

她补充说：“英国正变得越来越专制，在‘公民监测’的评级中，英国是令人担忧的国家之一，因为限制性法律和危险的言论正在为英国的公民社会创造一个敌视的环境。”

Civicus is a collaboration between more than 20 civil society organisations around the world, providing an annual upxe of the global relative health of civil society. Countries are classified as: open; narrowed; obstructed; repressed; or closed. The UK has been downgraded from “narrowed” to “obstructed”.

“公民监测”是全球20多个民间社会组织的合作项目，每年提供全球民间社会相对健康状况的最新信息。国家分类为：开放、狭隘、受阻、压抑的、封闭。英国已从“狭隘”降级为“受阻”。

Its latest annual report cites a number of restrictive laws introduced or proposed. These include the Police, Crime Sentencing and Courts Act, which gives the police unprecedented power to restrict protests and marches, and the Public Order Bill, now going through parliament, which is aimed at curbing so-called guerrilla-style protests

该公司最新的年度报告援引了一些已出台或已提出的限制性法律。其中包括《警察、犯罪量刑和法院法案》，该法案赋予警察前所未有的权力来限制抗议和游行，以及目前正在议会审议的旨在遏制所谓“游击队式抗议”的《公共秩序法案》

But it is also concerned by what it sees as the UK government’s attempts to undermine human rights and its hostility towards charities and campaigners who actively oppose or speak out against its policies on climate change, anti-racism and refugee and asylum seeker rights.

但它也担心，在它看来，英国政府试图破坏人权，对积极反对或公开反对其气候变化、反种族主义、难民和寻求庇护者权利政策的慈善机构和活动人士怀有敌意。

The UK government’s increasingly hardline approach is reflected in a separate annual survey of charities by the Sheila McKechnie Foundation (SMK), which reveals widespread alarm at the extent of ministers perceived hostility to civil society and enthusiasm for cracking down on long-held freedoms to organise and protest.

希拉·麦凯尼基金会对慈善机构进行的另一项年度调查反映了英国政府日益强硬的态度。调查显示，大臣们被认为对公民社会怀有敌意，并热衷于打压长期以来的组织和抗议自由，这引起了普遍担忧。

“The results of our survey, alongside the news Civicus has downgraded the UK as obstructed, should be a wake-up call. Our civic space is experiencing death by a thousand cuts and, at a time when ‘Global Britain’ is trying to carve out its new space in the world, we find ourselves in the same class as countries we have previously been a democratic example to,” said the SMK chief executive, Sue Tibballs.

“我们的调查结果，以及‘公民监测’将英国评级下调为‘受阻’的消息，应该是一个警钟。我们的公民空间正在经历千刀万剐的死亡，当‘全球化英国’试图在世界上开拓新的空间时，我们发现自己与以前把我们作为民主榜样的国家处于同一阶层，” 基金会首席执行官苏·蒂鲍尔斯说。

The SMK’s annual campaigner survey found 94% of campaigners said there were threats to the freedom to organise, contribute to public debate, influence political decisions or protest. The same proportion agreed that “negative rhetoric” from politicians towards campaigners was threatening civic space.

基金会的年度活动人士调查发现，94%的活动人士表示，组织自由、参与公共辩论、影响政治决策或抗议的自由受到了威胁。同样比例的人认为，政客对活动人士的“负面言论”正在威胁公民空间。
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One respondent said: “The government’s crackdown on campaigning is deeply alarming … and part of a wider drive to silence civil society and restore charities to this backwards idea of just being a service provider for a withdrawing state, without any actual campaigning response being allowed.”

一位受访者表示：“政府对竞选活动的镇压非常令人担忧……这是一种更广泛的行动的一部分，目的是让公民社会保持沉默，让慈善机构恢复到这种落后的理念，即只是为退出状态提供服务，不允许任何实际的竞选回应。”
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Increasing hostility towards charities and campaigners by politicians and parts of the media had a “chilling effect” on some of their activities, they said.

他们表示，政客和部分媒体对慈善机构和活动人士的敌意日益增加，对他们的一些活动产生了“寒蝉效应”。
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Some respondents said they had sometimes censored themselves for fear of a backlash. “We can’t always openly declare the truth of a situation due to funding constraints and for fear of damaging public and political relationships,” one said.

一些受访者表示，他们有时会对自己进行审查，因为担心遭到反对。“由于资金限制，以及担心损害公众和政治关系，我们不能总是公开宣布情况的真相，”其中一人表示。

Despite this, the majority (62%) of charities said high-profile media attacks on organisations like the National Trust and RSPB made them more likely to speak out. Just 11% said they were cowed by the threat of being picked on by the media or politicians.

尽管如此，大多数慈善机构（62%）表示，媒体对国家信托基金和皇家鸟类保护协会等组织的高调攻击，使他们更有可能说出自己的想法。只有11%的人说他们害怕被媒体或政客挑刺。

There was also a perception among some charities that the public were increasingly open to their campaigning message. As one respondent put it: “The public seem slightly more ready to listen and engage in campaigns due to a general sense of things being unjust.”

一些慈善机构还认为，公众对他们的宣传信息越来越开放。正如一位受访者所说：“公众似乎更愿意倾听和参与竞选，因为他们普遍觉得事情是不公平的。”

A government spokesperson said: “This government is committed to protecting freedom of expression and protest, which is a fundamental principle of our democracy.

一名政府发言人表示：“本届政府致力于保护言论和抗议自由，这是我们民主的基本原则。

“However, the right to protest must be balanced with preserving the ability of the law-abiding majority to go about their daily business. We must ensure there is a proper balance between the rights of individuals, our vital national security, essential services and effective government.”

“然而，抗议的权利必须与维护遵纪守法的大多数人开展日常事务的能力相平衡。我们必须确保在个人权利、重要的国家安全、基本服务和有效的政府之间取得适当的平衡。”