"The Expert Council on NGO Law, an expert body of the Conference of INGOs of the Council of Europe, has just published a study on “Recent adverse developments for non-governmental organisations in Europe”.
This study evaluates the current situations of NGOs in the Council of Europe. It follows the Expert Council's Stigmatisation Report, examining recent developments in 2024-2025. It shows that the situation for NGOs is generally becoming worse, with the adoption of more “foreign agents” type laws, increased criminalisation of legitimate activities, reductions in the funding available and restrictions on those working in certain fields even having access to such funding. Moreover, it finds that the available legal remedies are, with few exceptions, ineffective in practice in safeguarding civic space..
To prepare the study, the Expert Council had circulated a questionnaire to collect first-hand information from civil society organisations about their individual daily experience at national level. Organisations from 30 countries have thus provided such contributions. The Expert Council is grateful for their input."
Report : Conf/Exp 2026
Source: Conference of NGOs