Civil Society is facing serious threats today across the globe. An offensive against the spread of democracy has spread and intensified. This ongoing backlash against democracy has been characterized by a pronounced shift from outright repression of democracy, human rights and civil society activists and groups to more subtle governmental efforts to restrict the space in which civil society organizations (“CSOs”) - especially democracy assistance groups - operate. Too many regimes still employ standard forms of repression, from activists’ imprisonment and organizational harassment to disappearances and executions. But in other states - principally, but not exclusively authoritarian or hybrid regimes - these standard techniques are often complemented or pre-empted by more sophisticated measures, including legal or quasi-legal obstacles such as barriers to entry to discourage or prevent the formation of organizations, and barriers to resources to restrict organizations’ ability to secure the resources required to carry out their activities.

You can find the report here