When NGOs Fulfill State Obligations

Across parts of Africa, states have been restricting the operations, funding and speech of NGOs. Many have therefore expressed their concern that the cornerstones of a free civil society—the rights to free association and free speech—are under attack. However, another concern that warrants greater attention is whether such restrictive measures might also threaten the social rights of NGOs’ beneficiaries. The ICESCR obliges states to take steps progressively towards the full realisation of social rights. How, then, should a state’s social rights obligations be understood when NGOs enter the picture? How might those obligations affect a state’s freedom to regulate NGOs? This book offers a systematic examination of the ways in which the social rights obligations of states towards beneficiaries can reorganise and refine our understanding of the regulatory relationship between states and NGOs.