SmartGov

SmartGov participated in a regional advocacy mission at the 61st session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, from 25 to 27 February 2026. The mission was led by – MENA in partnership with 7amleh - Arab Center for Social Media Advancement and brought together several regional actors, including for Human Rights and Civic Engagement, SmartGov, and Wasl for Human Rights Tunisia, focused on the growing challenges surrounding digital democracy, surveillance, and online repression in the MENA region.

Our message, at SmartGov, emphasised that as civic participation increasingly takes place through digital systems, legal frameworks, institutional practices, and accountability mechanisms must evolve to protect meaningful participation.

For SmartGov, the mission was an opportunity to push the conversation forward, from concern to reform and from broad principles to practical pathways for protecting digital civic space.

🔗 Read the full article on our website.

Data4Justice is an initiative that maps Syrian laws issued between 2011 and 2024 that have been used for justifying human rights violations, such as property confiscation, displacement, and denial of civil rights.

As a Code for MENA Fellowship 2025 grantee, the Syrian for Truth and Justice team is now piloting their platform. It works on connecting legal texts with documented cases of harm during the Assad regime and currently under the transitional government. This helps civil society actors and accountability mechanisms understand how legislation was used to harm communities and what legal frameworks are needed to prevent the misuse of law.

👉 Swipe to see how the platform works and explore the tutorial.

🔗 Learn more about the initiative by visiting

TransitionalJustice DigitalDemocracy

Through Data 4 Justice, Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ) is building an analytical bridge between fragmented legal texts and documented human rights violations, transforming scattered information into structured, analysable datasets that support accountability in Syria’s transitional period.

This reflection is part of our Grantee Reflections Series, spotlighting civic tech initiatives advancing accountability, justice, and community resilience across the region.

🔗 Read the full story on our website. Link in the comments.

HuMENA is transforming scattered reports into structured, verified, and advocacy-ready evidence across the MENA region through developing the Civic Space Watchdog (CSW) platform during the Code for MENA Fellowship 2025.
This reflection is part of our Grantee Reflections Series, spotlighting civic tech solutions advancing accountability, justice, and community resilience across the region.
🔗 Read the full story on our website, link in the comments.