Statements
The CSF Board statement on Hungary’s proposed bill targeting foreign-funded NGOs
The Hungarian draft bill, titled the ‘‘Transparency of Public Life”, outlines plans to ban civil society from receiving foreign funding, including from the EU. In this new iteration of “foreign agents” legislation, Hungary follows the lead of other authoritarian regimes in the region. Russia first labelled NGOs with foreign funding as foreign agents. Georgia then…
Read MoreStatement by the Board: Designating organisations as “foreign agents” is dangerous and undemocratic.
On Tuesday May 14 2024, the Georgian parliament approved controversial plans to brand hundreds of NGOs and media outlets as “foreign agents”, by 84 votes to 30. According to the updated regulations, pushed forward by the governing Georgian Dream party with minimal time for proper scrutiny, civil society organisations that derive over 20 percent of…
Read MoreStatement by the Board: Standing firm against political repression in Russia after Alexei Navalny’s death
On 16 February 2024, it was announced that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has died in prison. One of the regime’s most prominent critics, Navalny was subject to a poisoning by Novichok in 2020. After being treated abroad, he returned to Russia in 2021 and was arrested in the airport on fabricated charges of extremism…
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