This ICNL legal briefer provides a brief history and context of the FCRA, followed by an international legal analysis of the recent 2020 FCRA amendments. Many of the provisions violate international law and threaten civil society’s ability to address COVID-19 and other urgent challenges.

This ICNL briefer outlines the civic space implications of Nigeria’s Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Health Protection Regulations 2021, including an analysis of provisions that may fail to meet applicable human rights standards governing pandemics.

This report by the OECD Development Assistance Committee provides recommendations for including and enabling civil society in development and humanitarian processes.

These two checklists were created by the ACHPR to deepen the understanding and compliance by States and other stakeholders with their obligations to promote and protect the freedoms of association and peaceful assembly as laid out in the Guidelines on Freedom of Association and Assembly in Africa.

This Just Security article, written by ICNL’s Senior Legal Advisor, Nicholas Miller, and ECNL’s Executive Director, Katerina Hadzi-Miceva Evans, lays out how and why the UN’s counterterrorism system must change. They argue the first steps must include creation of greater room for civil society participation in counterterrorism policymaking and a recognition by the UN and its member states that the UN counterterrorism system has the potential to cause human rights harms.

On June 4, 2021, Nigeria’s government suspended Twitter. While it is unclear which law the suspension stems from; nonetheless, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice have threatened to prosecute offenders who violate the directive. These developments raise several concerns from a human rights standpoint. This ICNL briefer explores these issues, looking at regional and international laws and best practices.

There are several ways in which governments can actively foster an enabling environment for philanthropy. Providing tax benefits for donations to civil society organizations is one of them. This analysis, published by ECNL, reviews the existing mechanisms to stimulate philanthropy in Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, and Poland.

Recently, Belarus’s parliament adopted or is considering adopting seven laws restricting basic human rights. According to local experts, these laws are designed to suppress protest activities. ICNL and local partners have produced briefs that review key restrictions in the seven draft and enacted legislative amendments.

ICNL outlines five key concerns with Thailand’s draft law, which presents a highly securitized approach to the non-profit sector and may violate international law.

This guide from MISA Tanzania outlines the right to information for civil society and Tanzanians and how to request information from government entities.