Sustainable Development Goal 16
By: V-Dem Staff
Mar 22, 2017
V-Dem is involved in efforts to develop a set of indicators that can accurately and reliably track progress toward these goals. One of these Goal 16 indicators is the extent of government repression of civil society organizations (CSO).
By using the V-Dem Variable Graph Tool we are able to compare governments’ repression of CSOs in recent decades in different regions of the world. The CSO Repression Variable measures to what extent the government represses civil society organizations. A lower level represents severe repression and higher levels indicate weak or no attempt of repression.
In Western Europe, CSO repression has substantially decreased after the Second World War, and has since approached the highest level on the index, indicating very low levels of government repression. South America experienced increasing repressions during the military dictatorships of the 1960’s in Brazil, Argentina and Chile, and then decreased substantially during the 1980s when democratic governments were restored. Lastly, the MENA region has not had any drastic changes over the past decades but the level of repression has steadily decreased since the 1980s.
To learn more about the CSO Repression Variable across the globe, use the V-Dem Online Analysis Tool on v-dem.net. To read more about SDG Goal 16.6 and the suggested V-Dem Measurement, take a look at our Policy Brief.
