Nearly every country’s constitution recognizes the right to peaceful assembly. But since 2020, more than 150 governments have restricted this right while responding to COVID-19. ICNL works alongside partners to create a more enabling environment for peaceful assembly by promoting international norms, improving legal frameworks, and monitoring violations of assembly rights at protests.

The first International Migration Review Forum will take place in May 2022. This report looks at current problems facing migrants and explores twelve key ways for states to get back on track.

Written by ICNL consultant Meghna Sharma, this briefer examines how authoritarian COVID-19 policies in the Indo-Pacific region have affected civil society’s freedom of expression in Asia. Drawing from the ICNL-ECNL Covid-19 Civic Freedoms Tracker, the briefer examines various repressive measures, including censorship of speech through criminalization measures, harassment in the name of targeting ‘fake news,’ cyber-attacks, and other methods used to suppress the free expression of civil society actors.

Authored by ICNL consultant Kirana Anjani, this briefer dives deep into the challenges faced by civil society in Southeast Asia as a result of authoritarian COVID-19 policies adopted by many governments in the region, to the detriment of civic space and effective COVID-19 response. Drawing from data in the ICNL-ECNL Covid-19 Civic Freedoms Tracker, the briefer examines examples of rampant digital surveillance by governments, lack of transparency and access with respect to critical public health information, and attacks on both community COVID-19 initiatives and medical frontline workers.

This working paper, by Ingrid Srinath, the Director of the Centre for Social Impact and Philanthropy at Ashoka University, examines the origins and growing strength of forces ranged against civil society in India, and points toward the actions necessary to confront them – including reforming regulatory frameworks, anachronistic laws, and improving participatory governance.

COVID hit Kyrgyzstan hard, overwhelming an already fragile healthcare system. In the face of these challenges, Elim Barsynby, a charitable foundation in Bishkek, assembled a large-scale volunteer movement to support the local community. With ICNL’s assistance, the organization was able to streamline its ability to receive aid by working through the medical supply distribution process and the bottlenecks of import and customs documentation.

In early 2020, as COVID began to spread globally, ICNL recognized the repercussions of states’ emergency responses on fundamental freedoms and civil society. To address this, ICNL partnered with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) to convene a high-level meeting in May 2021 on protecting civic space and ending unnecessary emergency measures.

This article, published by EURICS, explores China’s tumultuous past of navigating overseas funding and aid during times of crisis. It compares this history to the recent COVID-19 outbreak and related constraints

On July 28, 2021, ICNL hosted an online discussion for civil society organization (CSO) representatives from around the world to explore the scope of surveillance overreach and share best practices on advancing the right to privacy during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

On June 30, 2021, ICNL hosted an online discussion for civil society organization representatives from around the world to share best practices on how to address corruption in public responses to COVID-19.