The Criminalization of Struggles for Rights, Democratic Regression, and Legal Mobilisation. Part I

The criminalization of struggles for rights is increasing worldwide. There are a vast array of political, legal, and discursive practices aiming to restrict civil and political rights and to deter demonstrations and rights defense in general. These criminalization practices pave the way to the legitimization of violence against rights defenders, often under the cover of anti-terrorism legislation or war on drug operations. Another aggravating element is the high level of impunity for human rights violations, threats and persecutions against human rights defenders and their allies mainly in the Global South. In several countries, States not only fail to give the most basic protection to human rights defenders; they also directly promote legislation, discourses and measures that often resemble the harsh repression of civil dissent used by authoritarian regimes. Judicial powers are also often under political pressure to apply laws and dispositions that consider rights defenders as dangers to democratic stability and impose severe prison sentences upon them. Is criminalization of human rights defense the Trojan horse for a democratic regression? This panel invites comparative discussion among cases in different places, countries and regions to address the possible causes and consequences for democracy. At the same time, we invite proposals related to the other side of the coin: how social movements are responding to repression and using different strategies of legal mobilisation.