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Annex: Methodology

FRA cooperates with CSOs active in the field of fundamental rights through its Fundamental Rights Platform. Around 800 fundamental rights actors participate in the platform, forming a rich pool of experiences with civic space in the EU.

As in previous civic space reports, the data and information presented in this report come from three sources.

  • FRA’s research network, Franet, provided research on the enabling environment in all EU Member States, Albania, North Macedonia and Serbia. Franet reported the three most significant developments in 2022 in each country that increased or decreased the space available for civil society to promote human rights. All country research on civic space that Franet delivered is available on FRA’s website. The research, like the overall report, covers January to December 2022.
  • Online consultations captured the experiences and perceptions of CSOs. Since 2018, FRA has consulted key players in civil society annually on their experiences of civic space through its Fundamental Rights Platform. In total, 417 CSOs working on human rights in the 27 EU Member States, Albania, North Macedonia and Serbia responded to the latest online consultation, which was open from 3 January to 2 February 2023. The vast majority of responding organisations work at national (or sub-national) level (75 %). One quarter of the organisations work at EU/international level (25 %).They work in a range of areas, including advocacy, campaigning and awareness raising, service provision, community engagement, victim support, research and data collection, and litigation. Most respondents (over 90 %) are NGOs; the remainder are social or professional organisations, faith-based organisations or trade unions. Responses came from all EU Member States, with rates ranging from a few respondents to over 30 per country.
  • Desktop research, interviews and stakeholder meetings were another source of information. These include exchanges with intergovernmental organisations, and at conferences, workshops and focus group discussions with civil society representatives.

This report presents results at EU level only. That is, the findings are not broken down by Member State.