As the debate rages over the seemingly viral spread of governmental efforts to reign in human rights NGOs, it is an opportune moment to reflect on a different but related question: how do human rights groups sustain their work?
Arguably, the most pernicious aspect of the global regulatory assault on civil society has been the attack on foreign funding of NGOs. According to data collected by the International Center for Not-For-Profit Law (ICNL), about a third of the measures restricting NGOs now relate to international funding. Or as recently published research shows, 39 of the world’s low- and middle- income countries have introduced laws restricting the flow of funds to domestic NGOs.
An over-reliance on foreign funding has been the Achilles heel of civil society for some time, a structural consequence of 25 years of explosive growth of NGOs around the world. In the field of human rights, these new "voices from the South" offered the promise of invigorating a system built on the practice of international NGOs naming and shaming governments for their human rights practices, as well as deploying diplomatic pressure to curb abuses.
