Foreign agents laws are proliferating, increasingly threatening the civil society worldwide, finds CIVICUS report ‘Cutting civil society’s lifeline: The global spread of foreign agent laws,’ released today.
Russia’s 2012 foreign agents law established a dangerous blueprint. El Salvador, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, and Nicaragua have all enacted Russian-style legislation since 2020. Such laws stigmatise civil society groups by forcing them to register as paid agents of foreign interests. The threat extends far beyond current adopters, with other countries proposing similar legislation as part of broader civic space crackdowns.
Broad and ambiguous definitions of ‘political activity’ grant governments wide discretion to target organisations they deem undesirable. These laws create impossible choices for organisations. They must either accept a stigmatising designation that brands them as foreign spies or cease operations.
“Foreign agents laws are among the most troubling and growing assaults on civic space today worldwide,” said Mandeep Tiwana, the Secretary General of CIVICUS. “They are deadly viruses – toxic, spreading and hard to contain once normalised.
“By 2030, when the sustainable development goals are set to be achieved, most of the world’s population could live in countries where governments classify civil society groups receiving international funding as foreign agents. This could severely damage partnerships required for development.”
Civil society is resisting foreign agents laws and has shown how they can be rolled back. People’s protests led Ukraine to rapidly reverse its 2014 law. Ethiopia repealed its law in 2019, and Hungary was forced to drop its law in 2020 following a European Court of Justice ruling. There is a need for coordinated resistance to reverse the trend before foreign agents laws become normalised.
“Authoritarians are egging each other on in their quest to extinguish opposition, creating hurdles for people and organisations working to challenge corruption and rights violations. Our communities must be braver and bolder than ever before to challenge threats to peace, justice, equality, and sustainability,” said Tiwana.
“Greater citizen and civil society solidarity is needed to overcome these threats.”
CIVICUS is calling on coordinated resistance to reverse the trend before foreign agents laws become normalised. International courts and human rights bodies must develop comprehensive legal standards that distinguish legitimate transparency measures from repressive laws. They must develop emergency procedures to tackle immediate threats.
Funders and partners should establish emergency funding mechanisms with rapid-disbursement grants. They must support the development of domestic philanthropy to reduce reliance on foreign funding. The report also calls for systematic documentation of the impacts of foreign agents laws and successful responses to them.
International community should impose targeted sanctions on responsible officials hindering civil society development cooperation and provide haven for threatened activists. Civil society and media organisations should strengthen international solidarity networks to share resistance strategies, expose the true intent of foreign agents laws, and build legal capacity to challenge them through domestic and international courts.
“These laws fall when people resist. But only if we stop treating them as the new normal,” said Tiwana.
