In this letter to the Special Advisor to the UN Secretary General on Post 2015 Development Planning, the Civic Space Initiative (CSI) partners express our concern that there is no explicit recognition of an “enabling environment for civil society” in the Open Working Group’s proposal on Sustainable Development Goals and urging that the UN Secretary General’s synthesis report highlights this issue.

This 2014 paper by the European Center for Not-for-Profit Law focuses on opportunities to enhance CSOs’ financial sustainability by raising funds from private domestic sources and through indirect state support mechanisms.

ICNL Fellow Diego Scardone shares lessons from Brazil’s collaborative process in developing a landmark law regulating public funding of CSOs and CSO participation in public policymaking.

Since January 2012, more than 50 countries have introduced or enacted legislation constraining civil society.

The newest draft NGO law issued in late June by Egypt’s Ministry of Social Solidarity would severely restrict civil society.

PUBLISHED: JULY 2014 This July 2014 report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, […]

This European Center for Not-for-Profit Law paper outlines key attributes of volunteering based on the definition of volunteering by the International Labor Organization (ILO). 

This paper from the European Center for Not-for-Profit Law outlines key attributes of volunteering based on the definition of volunteering by the International Labor Organization (ILO). 

This report (A/HRC/27/33) summarizes a March 11, 2014, panel discussion convened by the UN Human Rights Council on the importance of the promotion and protection of civil society space.

This 2014 Amnesty International report documents the shrinking of political space in Burundi in the build-up to the 2015 presidential, legislative and communal elections.