In recent years, several countries across the Americas have adopted or amended laws that significantly restrict the work of civil society organizations. Between 2024 and 2025, countries such as Nicaragua, Venezuela, Paraguay, Peru, El Salvador, and Ecuador introduced measures that, while often framed around transparency, national security, or administrative oversight, impose disproportionate controls on nonprofits and human rights groups. According to Amnesty International, these laws directly affect the ability of organizations to operate, access funding, support communities, and defend human rights.
Amnesty International’s analysis finds that these so-called “anti-NGO laws” reflect a broader regional pattern aimed at restricting, controlling, or weakening organized civil society. The report argues that these laws are being implemented in a context of growing concentration of power, increasingly authoritarian practices, and hostility toward critical voices. As a result, their impact goes beyond legal regulation and contributes to the shrinking of civic space across the region.
The report identifies several recurring features in these laws. These include the stigmatization of civil society organizations during law-making processes, the adoption of legislation without meaningful public debate or citizen participation, and the use of vague or ambiguous legal provisions that allow authorities broad discretion in enforcement. Amnesty also highlights the use of mandatory registration as a form of prior approval, burdensome compliance requirements, restrictions on foreign funding, and provisions that expose donors, staff, and beneficiaries to privacy and security risks.
In addition, many of these laws include sanctions that Amnesty says do not align with international human rights standards. Governments are often given wide powers to suspend, dissolve, or disqualify organizations arbitrarily, while members of civil society groups and human rights defenders increasingly face criminalization for their work. Amnesty argues that these measures violate international obligations related to freedom of association, freedom of expression, privacy, and the right to defend human rights.
The consequences described in the report extend far beyond organizational operations. Individuals interviewed by Amnesty said these laws affect the emotional well-being and physical safety of civil society workers, disrupt the continuity of community projects, and create a climate of fear and uncertainty. The report warns that this is causing a deeper breakdown in the social fabric, leading to community fragmentation, loss of trust, isolation, reduced public participation, and the weakening of local leadership that is essential for defending rights.
In several countries, prolonged harassment has reportedly forced human rights defenders into exile or “insile,” meaning they remain in their own country but are effectively silenced and isolated. Amnesty says this creates lasting leadership gaps and leaves communities without support, services, or tools to challenge abuses by the state or private actors. Over time, these cumulative effects undermine people’s ability to understand, claim, and exercise their rights when facing violations.
Amnesty International stresses that protecting the right to establish and maintain civil society organizations is fundamental to protecting human rights more broadly. The organization calls on governments in the Americas to reverse these restrictive measures, repeal laws that violate international standards, end the stigmatization and criminalization of civil society, and ensure that organizations can access both domestic and international funding. It also urges international actors, including donors and institutions, to continue supporting civil society groups and to use diplomatic and policy tools to defend freedom of association and help restore civic space across the region.
