How Governments Are Weaponising Regulation Against Civil Society
Authoritarianism is on the rise globally, and Latin America is no exception. Across the region, there has been a devastating assault on civil society. Under the guise of “transparency”, “national security”, and “public oversight”, governments are introducing laws that severely restrict the work of civil society organisations, human rights defenders and grassroots movements. What may appear to be administrative regulation is, in practice, reshaping civic space and weakening the very communities that defend democracy, accountability and human rights.
In “Tearing up the Social Fabric: Impact of Restrictive Laws on Civil Society Organisations in the Americas”, Amnesty International examines how Venezuela, Paraguay, Peru, Ecuador, Nicaragua and El Salvador have enacted or expanded so-called “anti-NGO laws”. These measures impose excessive registration requirements, intrusive financial controls, vague legal obligations and punitive sanctions that place organisations at constant risk of closure, surveillance or criminalisation.
The report reveals strikingly similar patterns across the region. Authorities and pro-government media increasingly portray civil society groups as “foreign agents”, “internal enemies” or threats to national stability. This is fuelling distrust and hostility toward organisations working on human rights, environmental justice, anti-corruption, Indigenous Peoples’ rights, women’s rights and LGBTQI+ advocacy. They are left in a climate of fear.
Amnesty International documents how these laws are tearing apart the social fabric that sustains communities. Human rights defenders interviewed for the report describe emotional exhaustion, exile, loss of leadership and the collapse of vital support networks for vulnerable populations. Entire communities are left with fewer protections, less access to justice and diminished capacity to challenge abuses of power.
This report offers an urgent warning: the erosion of civic space is not isolated to a single country but part of a broader regional trend toward authoritarianism. It also highlights why protecting freedom of association is essential to protecting all human rights.
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