Repression and resilience: Diagnosing closing space mid-pandemic

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38 REPRESSION AND RESILIENCE: DIAGNOSING CLOSING SPACE MID-PANDEMIC 7. Support a democratic digital transition of infrastructure, institutions and oversight actors The roll-out of privacy-breaching contact-tracing apps has highlighted the power of new digital tools for censorship and surveillance. The extent to which the digital transition will expand or restrict democratic space, will depend on the inclusiveness of the economic transition, and the ability of key democratic actors to adapt to a digital environment and oversee digital policy-making. IDEAS FOR ACTION • Support the expansion of essential connectivity infrastructure to marginalised communities, accompanied by the roll-out of digital technologies as part of human development programmes and support to increased information access and digital literacy across the population. • Support the digitalisation of democratic institutions, including both the adaptation of legislatures, judiciaries and public administration to the digital workspace, but also the knowledge and skillsdevelopment regarding digital policy development. • Support data protection authorities and civil society watchdogs to ensure privacy by design and fault will be embedded in all government administration and public services - particularly in the justice and law enforcement sectors - as a prerequisite to fundamental freedoms. 8. Lead by example, build back better at home The EU and Member States will only be legitimate in their pushback against the closure of democratic space, if they truly build back better at home. This means innovating decision-making to make it more participatory and inclusive at all levels of governance. It also means taking difficult decisions when it comes to autocratic backsliding within the Union. IDEAS FOR ACTION • Strengthen and innovate citizen participation in policy-making, including by ensuring real policy consequences from citizens’ input during the Conference on the Future of Europe. • Take firm action against attacks on democratic space within the Union, guided by a strengthened rule of law mechanism and Article 7 procedures. • Make EU decision-making more inclusive with electoral and political party reforms ahead of the European Parliament elections that make the Parliament more representative and inclusive.
REPRESSION AND RESILIENCE: DIAGNOSING CLOSING SPACE MID-PANDEMIC 39 Annex: Summaries of the country case studies El Salvador Democratic space has increasingly come under attack in El Salvador since the assumption of power by President Nayib Bukele in 2019. Lacking sufficient legislative leverage to promote his agenda, Bukele’s presidency has so far been marked by attempts to overrule the Legislative Assembly, as well as a divisive and anti-democratic discursive strategy. Just before the pandemic outbreak, President Bukele ordered the military to surround the legislative palace with an ultimatum to approve a substantial increase in resources to implement his Plan for Territorial Control. While the Legislative Assembly did not accept this demand, the event both exemplified Bukele’s disregard for the separation of powers and his willingness to involve the military in public decision-making. The tension between the executive, legislative and judiciary - fuelled by Bukele’s desire to rule by decree - continued to mark the country’s space for contestation during the pandemic. Civic space was most gravely affected by the increased role of the armed forces in public security as well as the militarisation of water, health, food and agricultural policy implementation. The increase of the budget assigned to the military coincided with a propaganda campaign reinforcing the central role of the military in social life, thus promoting a militarist culture. Patriotic commemorations, swearing-ins and other public events have been employed to vigorously project this image. The pandemic further exacerbated this trend, with large-scale arbitrary and illegal detentions of citizens by the police and armed forces. Massive internment camps called “containment centres” were used to detain people who allegedly did not follow lockdown rules, exposing them to grave contagion risks in overcrowded facilities. The judiciary institutions, particularly the Constitutional Court and the Ombudsman for Human Rights, provided an important counterweight to these excessive measures, putting a legal stop to the presidential rule by decree and disbanding the containment centres. This was a surprising development because the judiciary was known for its partiality before the pandemic - but at its onset the courts played an essential role in upholding constitutionalism and the rule of law. They also strongly counteracted the executive’s attempts to bypass and overrule the judiciary and legislature. This contrasts with the continued impunity for pre-pandemic crimes and human rights offenses, particularly the crimes committed against human rights defenders and media actors. The abuse of state resources and irregularities in procurement processes equally marked the government response to the pandemic, thereby affecting the space for political opposition and a level playing field. While the Legislative Assembly tried to oversee and audit procurement processes and crisis expenditures, it lacked the credibility for such oversight given some of its members’ own track record. In contrast, media oversight and scrutiny of public procurement was strong, prompting the government to reform the rules for public procurement to evade their obligation to register and inform the public. Prior to the pandemic, violent attacks against journalists and human rights defenders were the primary tactic for repressing civic space in El Salvador, further exacerbated by an environment of impunity and intimidation. While such intimidation and violence against journalists continued during the pandemic, the case study did not note an increase in violence during this period.
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