Global Program
ICNL’s Global Program seeks to protect and expand civic freedoms by advancing global and regional norms that can be used to defend civic space at the national level.
With our partners, we seek to bolster protective norms across a variety of international bodies, including the United Nations, the Financial Action Task Force, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the Open Government Partnership.
2025 in Numbers
Multilateral initiatives to protect civic space to which ICNL contributed:
74
Multilateral policy actions supporting civic space following ICNL engagement:
29
Public Participation for Women and Girls
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women adopted ICNL’s suggested language in a recent General Recommendation, emphasizing the need to protect civic space to ensure women and girls’ participation.
What We Do
UN Engagement
In 2020, we played a key role in facilitating civil society input for General Comment No. 37 – the Human Rights Committee’s landmark guidance on the right to peaceful assembly.
ICNL works with UN member states to enhance international norms protecting civic freedoms and collaborates with UN bodies to advance civil society’s access to multilateral fora
UN Special Rapporteurs
ICNL works with a range of United Nations special rapporteurs with mandates relevant to civic freedoms.
To strengthen their mandates, ICNL supports research, provides expert submissions, convenes consultations with civil society, and hosts events to publicize special rapporteurs’ reports.
Civil Society and FATF
ICNL and ECNL work with national partners to respond to restrictions on civil society arising from processes associated with the Financial Action Task Force.
We also engage with the Task Force through our membership in the FATF Private Sector Consultative Forum, a policy-implementation advisory body.
Civic Space and OGP
ICNL works with the Open Government Partnership to promote action by its member states to expand civic space and address constraints on civil society.
Our contributions have included providing technical assistance to OGP governments, advising civil society partners advocating for civic space commitments in OGP action plans, and more.
Development and Civic Space
Civil society organizations have a key role to play in delivering sustainable development. ICNL works to promote and protect this role.
Our work has helped elevate civil society’s involvement in the annual High-Level Political Forum for the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee, and more.
Extractives and Civic Space
ICNL works with civil society partners and initiatives such as the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) to ensure respect for civil society participation in natural resource governance issues.
In 2021, ICNL and our partner Publish What You Pay published guidance for civil society on using EITI processes to flag concerns about civic space in EITI implementing countries.
Key Resources
Multilateral Engagement Strategies to Strengthen Civic Space
This briefer – the first of a series providing advice and guidance to civil society partners on using multilateral engagement to defend and expand civic space – focuses on how to develop strategies for advancing engagement on issues affecting the environment for civil society.
Download
Civic Space and Anti-Corruption: Toward a Virtuous Cycle
This report examines the relationship between anti-corruption frameworks and civil society, analyzing how certain laws and policies – often adopted in the name of transparency, integrity, and national security – can undermine the freedom of association, expression, and participation
Download
Relevant Sources of Law on Article 22 ICCPR: Freedom of Association
Since 2023, ICNL and ECNL have been advocating for the UN Human Rights Committee to develop a General Comment on the right to freedom of association – the only core civic freedom for which they have not provided authoritative guidance. As part of these efforts, ICNL and ECNL developed this report summarizing UN sources of law on association rights.
DownloadExtractive Industries and Civic Space
In 2022, ICNL and its partners convened a diverse group of stakeholders to explore strategies for promoting better natural resource governance and expanding civic space in environments that are hostile to extractives activism. This document summarizes the discussions and highlights ways forward.
DownloadEnhancing Digital Civic Space Through the OGP Process
This guide offers a checklist of principles to consult before embarking on digital policy initiatives, recommendations for OGP commitments, and examples of positive practices and policies that OGP members are already undertaking. Government representatives and civil society actors alike can draw on this resource to co-create enabling digital reforms.
DownloadOECD: Enabling Civil Society in Development and Humanitarian Assistance
This OECD document – known as the DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society in Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Assistance – is the first international standard focused on enhancing collaboration with civil society actors as contributors to the 2030 Agenda. It provides a framework to help development providers advance policies and practices that reinforce civic space.
DownloadAll Global Program Resources
How Anti–Money Laundering Rules Are Reshaping Civil Society in Francophone Africa
Multilateral Engagement Strategies to Strengthen Civic Space
Global: Protecting Civic Freedoms through Digital Security and AI Governance
Explore our full global resource collection, which includes reports, legal analysis, and curated collections of materials covering an array of issues impacting civic space around the world.
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