The "Foreign Agent Problem": An International Legal Solution to Domestic Restrictions on Non-Governmental Organizations

Authors

Jacqueline Van De Velde, Yale Law School

Abstract

The United States' Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA), has recently come into the spotlight due to its use in the ongoing Russian election interference investigation. But the United States 'foreign agent restriction is only one of many: while FARA was the first of its kind, it now exists among a multitude of such restrictions. Too, the U.S. foreign agent restriction is lenient, compared to the restrictions appearing in other countries- restrictions that now are crippling civil society and to which international law is ill-equipped to respond. This Article analyzes this sudden avalanche of 'foreign agent" legislation: restrictive domestic legislation that curtails non-governmental organizations' ability to function in the international system. After providing an overview of existing 'foreign agent" restrictions and an analysis of the means through which international law might be marshaled to challenge such restrictions, it proposes a novel strategy for addressing foreign agent restrictions as violations of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). It concludes that using the ICCPR's treaty-based mechanisms for resolving disputes is the most effective means of crippling existing legislation and deterring new legislation.

Disciplines

Comparative and Foreign Law | International Law | Law | Nonprofit Organizations Law | Transportation Law

Recommended Citation

Jacqueline Van De Velde, The "Foreign Agent Problem": An International Legal Solution to Domestic Restrictions on Non-Governmental Organizations, 40 Cardozo L. Rev. 687 (2018).
Available at: https://larc.cardozo.yu.edu/clr/vol40/iss2/6