Reposted from charityandsecirtynetwork.org
UN Headquarters, New York – On Oct. 24, 2025, the Charity & Security Network (C&SN) convened partners from across the sector and held a roundtable discussion with Ben Saul, the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism (SRCT) and his mandate to raise alarm over the U.S.’s narrowing civic space.
In particular, the discussion highlighted ways in which the Trump administration has weaponized material support laws, expanded its use of Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) designations, counter-terrorism-related executive action, and sanctions compliance, as well as highlighted the administration’s targeting of nonprofits, and the ramifications of these counter-terrorism measures on immigration.
Civil society partners who attended the roundtable included attorneys and policy experts from Center for Constitutional Rights, Jewish Voice for Peace, Muslim Advocates, Muslims for Just Futures, Muslim Legal Fund of America, and the Center for Civil Society and Democracy.
This robust conversation built on C&SN’s joint submission to the SRCT on the human rights impacts of administrative measures to counter terrorism and (violent) extremism, which we have updated in collaboration with partners and can be found here.
C&SN and partners also took the opportunity to meet with other UN agencies with mandates focused on human rights and counter-terrorism to share the key takeaways from C&SN’s submission, urging these offices to monitor developments in the U.S., prepare to support U.S.-based human rights defenders, and respond strategically to the expansion of dangerous counter-terrorism efforts in the 50 states.
This served as an important opportunity for U.S.-based civil society to convey common concerns and trends and engage in strategic international advocacy. Civil society across the world has faced similar repression through overbroad national security measures. As civic space continues to shrink, not only in the U.S., but globally, it is vital that we learn from other contexts, share lessons across issue areas and geographies, and utilize avenues for advocacy, remedies, and justice beyond those that exist domestically.
