CIVIC SPACE: A South Africa-based NGO cited Taiwan setting up the National Human Rights Commission and its recognition of foreign journalists forced out of China

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 09, 2020
By: Staff writer, with CNA, BANGKOK

For the third year in a row, Taiwan has been named the only country in Asia with an open civic space, a Civicus report released in Bangkok yesterday said.

In its People Power Under Attack 2020 report, the South Africa-based non-governmental organization (NGO) placed 196 countries in five categories — “open,” “narrowed,” “obstructed,” “repressed” or “closed” — based on their basic freedoms, such as freedoms of the press and speech.

Taiwan was one of 42 countries worldwide, and the only one in Asia, in the “open” category.

Out of 25 Asian countries in the report, four were rated as “closed” — China, Laos, North Korea and Vietnam — while nine were categorized as “repressed” and nine as “obstructed.”   [FULL  STORY]