Civicus Monitor, an alliance of civil society groups which assessed 196 countries.By using methods such as detention of protesters, excessive use of force, censorship, attacks on journalists, and harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders, many governments have used Covid-19 to “introduce or implement additional restrictions on civic freedoms”, the report said.The group categorised fundamental freedoms of association, peaceful assembly and expression as either “closed”, “repressed”, “obstructed”, “narrowed” or “open”, based on a methodology which combines several data sources.More than a quarter live in the worst rated countries – “closed” – where state and non-state actors routinely imprison, injure and kill people for.