ICNL Database of Legal Resources for Nonprofits

The International Center for Non Profit Law’s (ICNL) Research Center provides resources that cover current issues affecting the legal framework for civil society law. ICNL’s Online Library currently contains over 3300 resources including a law database, reports, and other civil society legal resources from 202 countries ranging in 61 different languages.

The NGO Law Monitor provides up-to-date information on legal issues affecting not-for-profit, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from 50 countries and 8 multicultural organizations around the world. The International Journal of Not-for-Profit Law (IJNL) is ICNL’s journal of analysis on global civil society that addresses legal topics as well as social, cultural, political and economic issues affecting the legal environment. Similarly, Global Trends in NGO Law is a quarterly review of NGO legal trends around the world that synthesizes developments in legal and regulatory issues that affect NGOs.

Other key resources are divided into 12 thematic topics:

The Defending Civil Society theme focus on combating laws that restrict civic space and philanthropy around the world. This category includes the reports like Legal Framework for global Philanthropy: Barriers and Opportunities which surveys legal barriers to cross-border philanthropy and analyzes constraints, such as counterterrorism measures.
The Foreign Funding section reviews laws and measures that protect the right of NGOs to receive funding from abroad.
Freedom of Assembly includes publications, reports and court cases on the freedom of assembly.
The UN Special Rapporteur section tracks special rapporteur on the freedom of peaceful assembly and association Maina Kiai’s work to defend the freedoms of peaceful assembly and association.
The Counter-Terrorism compilation synthesizes counter-terrorism measures affecting civil society since 2001 including Counter-Terrorism, ‘Policy Laundering’ and the FATF: Legalising Surveillance, Regulating Civil Society, a report which examines how FATF’s recommendation on NPOs has been used to legitimize a global clampdown on civil society. It draws on studies by ICNL and others and includes an appendix containing compliance ratings of 159 countries.
The Aid Effectiveness section focuses on the enabling environment for civil society and the aid effectiveness debate.
The Post-2015 Development Agenda portal summarizes the framework to succeed the UN Millennium Development Goals.
The Digital Freedom category analyzes freedom of association and human rights on the Internet and digital media.
The Regional and Global Overviews portal reviews NGO Law in Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and South Pacific.
The Assessment and Monitoring Tools portal includes tools for assessing and monitoring the legal enabling environment for civil society.
The Volunteerism section review laws that have been enacted since the “International Year of Volunteers” in 2001.
The NGO-Government Cooperation section contains documents that focus on methods to enable citizens to participate in public policy and law-making

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Other key resources are divided into 12 thematic topics:

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ICNL Database of Legal Resources for Nonprofits

Other key resources are divided into 12 thematic topics:

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