Closing Space for Civil Society?

By: Emerson Sykes
Español

Americans seeking racial justice can learn a lot about protest and liberation from Africans.

By: Elizabeth Andersen & Alicia Evangelides
Español

The rule of law is the foundation for human rights, and a global index shows respect for this fundamental principle is declining worldwide—a persistent trend evident ...

By: Daniela Ikawa
Español | Português

To identify a contemporary authoritarian regime, we can start by asking what Hungary and Brazil have in common.

By: James Logan
Español | Français

Severe political polarization is tearing at the seams of democracies around the world, with dangerous consequences for our societies, institutions, and human rights.

By: Katrin Kinzelbach & Eva Pils
Español | 简体中文

The Hong Kong protest movement has long given up hope that Hong Kong’s rule of law can be protected with judicial means only.

By: Susan Wilding
Español

States need to focus on strategies that actually work and expose governments that are dismantling democracy in the name of countering terrorism.

By: Thomas Coombes
Español | Français | العربية

To make the case for civil society, we have to talk less about the threats it faces and more about the values it stands for, how it contributes to society and show ...

By: Cate Brown
Español

As civilian protesters take to the streets to demand their rights, human rights leaders consider a future of citizen-led activism.

By: Merrill Sovner & Barry Gaberman & William Moody
Español

The project of developing civil society organizations that keep the government in check and nurture democratic practices and values is a multi-generational effort.

By: Małgorzata Szuleka
Español

The democratic community in Poland is under threat, but activists and judges who use the constitution to push back against the government and fight for human rights ...

By: Tatiana Tolsteneva
Español | Русский

Russia’s non-profit sector has been playing a constant game of catch-up—can new media technologies break this pattern and appeal to younger audiences?

By: Osamah Alfakih
Español | Français

Defending human rights in war-torn Yemen requires persistence, creativity, and strategic changes to daily operations.

By: Chrystie Swiney
Español

The much-reported clampdown on civil society is not restricted to authoritarian states – restrictive laws on CSOs are spreading into many democratic states too

By: Cathal Gilbert & Giada Negri

Across the EU, several member states are preparing to cut funding to civil society organizations. In many cases, cuts are aimed at advocacy and human rights organizations ...

By: Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah
Español

Despite closing space for civil society, the new Escazú Agreement—which offers protection measures for environmental groups and defenders—is a shining example of ...

By: Stefania Kapronczay & Anna Kertész
Español

Dropping defensive tactics and reframing human rights in a relatable way are both key to responding to stigmatizing backlash in Hungary and connecting to new audiences.

By: Katrin Kinzelbach & Janika Spannagel
Español | Français

Changing the way we document human rights abuses—such as paying more attention to soft repression—could correct our understanding of what is really happening.

By: Ivor Chipkin
Español

Powerful civil society coalitions have re-emerged in South Africa, using litigation, social mobilization, and diverse political coalitions.

By: Jonas Wolff
Español

Instead of letting governments define the terms, CSOs need to take “foreign agent” allegations seriously and address them strategically.

By: James Ron & José Kaire & Archana Pandya & Andrea Martínez
Español

Modest investments into local fundraising capacity could transform the global human rights community into a truly sustainable and autonomous force, rather than ...

By: Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah & Mandeep Tiwana
Español | Português

To reclaim civic space, there are three key drivers that organizations must focus on, and three critical issues affecting local responses.

By: Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah

The challenges facing civil society now aren’t about reviving our weakening de-mocracies—they are about re-imagining democracy for a radically changed world.

By: Julian Oram & Deborah Doane

Most development and funding organizations are adapting to shrinking space rather than challenging it, but is this trend inevitable?

By: Lorenzo Urbinati & Sejin Kim
Español

Data on human rights violations in Asia proves the need to establish a network of protection mechanisms at the national, regional, and international level.

By: David Kode
Español

Governments from Uganda to Poland are silencing activists and organizations that criticize them—what can these NGOs do to fight back?

By: Felogene Anumo & Ruby Johnson
Español | Français

Young feminists are pushing back and forging new paths in global resistance, but they need financial support and personal security to achieve real gains.

By: Augusta Hagen-Dillon
Español

Widespread backlash against progressive values and mounting legal restrictions have led women’s activists and funds to respond creatively.

By: James A. Goldston
Español

In Kenya, Guatemala and Brazil, courts have defied presidents and shaken up politics—is court-centric advocacy one of the few remaining avenues to legitimately ...

By: Victoria Ohaeri
Français

Linking online campaigns to offline action has become critical in challenging closing spaces in Nigeria.

By: Garth Meintjes
Español | Русский | 简体中文 | العربية

The paradigmatic wall that separates lawyers into two camps—private and public—is a barrier to the possibilities and a threat to the health and resilience of our ...

By: Padre Melo
Español

Human rights organizations and funders in Latin America need to rethink how they protect defenders in light of increasing threats from non-state actors and impunity ...

By: Marte Hellema
Español

As online spaces become increasingly restricted, human rights activists must stay aware of the risks and benefits of technological developments.

By: Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah

Restricted freedoms and intensifying governmental control raise the risk for social and geopolitical conflict.

By: Edwin Rekosh
Español | Français

The current human rights business model is not keeping up with trends in technology, philanthropy, business and society.

By: Péter Krekó

Hungary is using Russia’s playbook to close down civil society space, and many Western allies are hardly even noticing.

By: Gretchen Gordon
Español | Français

By ignoring community concerns around development projects, multilateral institutions can become complicit in human rights violations and closing space.

By: Rachel Hayman
العربية | Русский

Even where civil society space is constrained, local organisations can create positive relationships with state and external actors.

By: Maina Kiai
Español

The aid community often ignores the wishes of the very people it’s supposed to be helping. The world needs a more bottom-up approach to development.

By: Christian Medina-Ramirez 
Español

Venezuela’s lack of reliable data on socio-economic metrics poses both challenges and opportunities for human rights advocates.

By: Charles Kojo Vandyck  & Maame Darkwaa Twum Barima

Increasing threats to citizens’ freedoms will derail the sustainable development goals.

By: Henri Tiphagne & Marte Hellema

Protecting freedom of speech, assembly and association in Asia is the lynchpin to protecting all human rights.

By: David Kuria Mbote
Français

Closing space for African sexual and gender minority groups is about far more than advocacy—it is about accessing critical services that no one else provides.

By: Mark Aspinwall
Español

Civil society could have played a key role in the Trans-Pacific Partnership—why were they left out?

By: Mathew Jacob

Volunteers in India are banding together to form a network that protects human rights defenders.

By: Alejandra Dandan
Español

A key concern for many Argentinians, among the numerous changes Mauricio Macri’s government has implemented, is the dismantling of hard-won human rights gains.

By: Jenny Hodgson

As local rights groups seek alternative funding sources, the closing space for civil society makes this even more imperative.

By: Edwin Rekosh

In this climate of closing space, we have an imperative to rethink the business models for protecting human rights.

By: Shannon N. Green
Français

Armed non-state actors, criminal elements and violent extremists—not just governments—are responsible for the increasing crackdown on civil society.

By: Kendra Dupuy & James Ron
Español

Foreign aid is always political, and elevates the risk of a government crackdown on NGOs.

By: Ezra Mbogori 
Français

What started as a “one time” reform exercise has turned into a long-term battle for Kenyan civil society.

By: Iva Dobichina & Poonam Joshi
Español

Silencing activists in the name of security can stifle actors most likely to challenge extremist ideologies, making insecurity worse.

By: Annika E. Poppe & Jonas Wolff
Français | Español | Deutsch | العربية

Those that justify restrictions on foreign funding for civil society have strong normative arguments that cannot be dismissed lightly.

By: Orysia Lutsevych 
Русский

“Partly free” countries in the post-Soviet space must fight even harder now to protect growing civil societies.

By: Maina Kiai
Español

Working together, the UN and civil society are using innovative legal action to protect fundamental human rights and re-open lost civic spaces.

By: Cathal Gilbert
Español

Civil society organisations are targeted because political elites know they have power. But where is the international backup?

By: Araddhya Mehtta
Español

Taking lessons from history’s best dissenters, civil society is finding new ways to make cracks in shrinking spaces.

By: Shannon N. Green & Archana Pandya

Civil society organizations (CSOs) worldwide are under significant pressure. Questions abound about whether current trends indicate a permanent setback for civil ...

By: Hillel Ben-Sasson
Español

Marked as traitors by the dominant Right for relying on foreign aid, Israeli liberal NGOs need a wider base of local donors.

By: Theodore P. Gerber 
Español | Русский

Despite Putin’s clampdown on Russian civil society, public opinion trends point to growing support for civil liberties.

By: Shannon N. Green
Español

As space for civil society closes, donors and civil society leaders are realizing they cannot take public support for granted.

By: Seema Guha

Can NGOs and India’s political opposition stop Modi’s civil society clampdown?

By: James Ron & Shannon Golden & David Crow & Archana Pandya
Español | Français | العربية

Opinion polls across four world regions suggest that human rights activists can be cautiously optimistic—the public likes and trusts them.

By: Mubin S. Khan
বাংলা

Amidst tighter donor budgets for human rights, NGOs in Bangladesh are also grappling with increasingly intrusive governments.

By: Dimi Reider
العربية | עברית

If Israeli human rights groups are labeled fronts for foreign interests due to their funding, what does that make Israel itself?

By: Medha Patkar

The Indian state aggressively promotes foreign investment in all sectors but civil society.

By: Saskia Brechenmacher & Thomas Carothers
Español | Français | العربية

The global pushback against domestic NGOs has arrived. International donors must learn to cope, but it won’t be easy.

By: Daniel Sokatch

Ultra-nationalist political parties are yet again trying to crack down on dissenting Israeli NGOs. This is the latest in a longer series of efforts to fundamentally ...

By: Maina Kiai
Français

In October Kenya introduced legislation capping foreign funding to NGOs and requiring that money be channeled through a government body. Though narrowly defeated, ...