News & research

What's the latest in the field of civil society law and policy? Read our news and learn more about our analytical and research work!

Tech and AI

Open letter to COE AI Convention negotiators: Do not water down our rights

Civil society coalition calls for world's first AI treaty to equally cover the public and private sectors, and reject blanket exemptions regarding national security.

News

Action for Civic Space

Serbia: Restarting dialogue between government and CSOs for an enabling civil society environment

ECNL supports the establishment of the Council for Cooperation and Civil Society Development for improved participation in public policy processes.

News

UN Standards

Pact for the Future: Joint civil society input

ECNL along with signatory organisations calls for the Pact for the Future to center human rights and fundamental freedoms.

News

Action for Civic Space

Slovakia: Civil society under threat

Slovak civil society is concerned that the new government's actions and rhetoric are shrinking space for their work. How can they respond?

News

Action for Civic Space

How to respond to a ‘foreign agent’ law: Experiences from Georgia

Find out what strategies CSOs in Georgia used to challenge a foreign agent law in ECNL's newest briefer.

Research

Action for Civic Space

Silencing critical voices in the name of national sovereignty protection: new law adopted in Hungary

The Law on the Defense of National Sovereignty violates fundamental freedoms of association, expression and participation of individuals, but also of CSOs.

News

Tech and AI

ECNL and Discord are joining forces to pilot the Framework for Meaningful Engagement

Together we will test out the framework to strengthen Discord’s stakeholder engagement processes.

News

UN Standards

States must respect, protect and facilitate freedom of peaceful assembly and association in digitally-mediated spaces, warn UN and regional mandates

Digital technologies should not be used to unduly restrict civic space online and offline, urge UN and regional human rights experts in joint declaration.

News

Tech and AI

EU reaches agreement on the Artificial Intelligence Act

CSOs fear the final EU AI Act will fall short of effectively protecting people from harmful effects of AI.

News