This Overview, updated in July 2024, highlights the legislative opportunities and constraints affecting the financial sustainability of civil society organizations. It also offers a comparative approach, allowing readers to use examples from several countries and apply them to their practice. Moreover, the Overview provides information that can be used to improve civil society-related legislation across the region and is meant to be particularly useful for specialists, civil society representatives, government agencies, and parliamentarians. Find the full analysis in English or Russian.
Eurasian Program
Since 1997, the ICNL Alliance has worked to foster an enabling legal and fiscal environment for civil society throughout Eurasia.
Country-specific activities are tailored to meet the needs of civil society in every country we work in: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. Our activities include providing technical assistance to civil society and government representatives, increasing the capacity of local partners, and bolstering the legal literacy of civil society organizations. We also support cross-border activities that give local civil society representatives and lawyers the opportunity to exchange perspectives with colleagues from other countries.
Highlights
Update on Enactment of the Georgian Foreign Agents Registration Act
On May 31, Georgia’s new Foreign Agents Registration Act (hereinafter – the Georgian FARA) entered into force. In April, ICNL published a brief on the adopted law, disputing inaccurate and misleading claims that the Georgian FARA is only a “translation” of the US FARA, while highlighting the broad and restrictive scope of the law, its burdensome compliance requirements, and the severe criminal penalties introduced for violations. Amid the Georgian government’s ongoing crackdown on civil society and its efforts to cut off access to funding, many Georgian NGOs rightfully fear that the Georgian FARA will be weaponized against Georgian civil society to silence independent voices.
Georgia: The Foreign Agents Registration Act
On April 2, the President of Georgia signed the Foreign Agents Registration Act (hereinafter – the Georgian FARA). Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have expressed concern that the Georgian FARA will be used against NGOs, independent media, and citizens who oppose the government’s policies. Among other requirements, the law requires individuals and entities to register as “foreign agents” if they are acting “at the authority, request, order, or control of a foreign principal” to engage in broadly defined “political activities,” in the interests or on behalf of the foreign principal. The law also introduces burdensome compliance requirements for “foreign agents” and severe criminal penalties for violations.
The Law of the Republic of Tajikistan on Social Entrepreneurship
On January 2, 2025, the President of Tajikistan signed the Law on Social Entrepreneurship (SE) (the Law on SE). The Law on SE provides a legal basis for SE through guarantees of state protection and support, as well as expansion of the activities of subjects of SE (social enterprises and social entrepreneurs), with a specific focus on support to socially vulnerable groups of people. Overall, the new Law on SE can be considered a positive legal reform for civil society.
Read the full Brief, available in English, here or in Russian, here.
Overview of Georgia’s Foreign Influence Law
On May 14, 2024, the Georgian parliament adopted the Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence. The law requires civil society and media organizations to register and submit information for a special registry maintained by the Ministry of Justice. Under the new law, the Ministry also gains broad inspection powers. The President vetoed the Law on May 18, but parliament can override it. If passed, the Law will take effect 60 days after publication.
Analysis of the Kyrgyz Republic Law on Foreign Representatives
The Law on Amending the Law of the Kyrgyz Republic on Noncommercial Organizations (Law on “Foreign Representatives”), signed by President Japarov on April 2, 2024, establishes new burdensome requirements for noncommercial organizations (NCOs). Among other provisions, the Law provides state authorities with the right to interfere in an organization’s internal affairs, forces NCOs that receive foreign funding and engage in broadly defined “political activity” to complete a special “foreign representative” registration; and requires INGOs to work in Kyrgyzstan through a registered branch/representative office. Read the full analysis here.
Eurasia Resources
Country Pages
ICNL has an array of Country-specific resources in both English and Russian
