U.S. Body Says Egyptian Parliament NGO Law Threatens Their Functions
CAIRO, June 1 (IslamOnline) - A draft of a new law before the Egyptian parliament would further entrench state
domination of NGOs while threatening activists with serious criminal penalties if passed, according to the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (LCHR).
In a statement released May 31, the U.S.-based LCHR called upon the Egyptian parliament to amend the draft law to better reflect international standards of freedom of association.
Entitled “Stifling Civil Society in Egypt: Proposed New Law on Associations is a Step Back for Political Pluralism,” the statement notes the similarity between the draft law and Law 153 of 1999 that governed NGOs.
While Law 153 was struck down on procedural grounds, the High Constitutional Court also pointed out that several provisions were unconstitutional.
The proposed law will make it almost impossible for an NGO to be “both legally registered and independent,” a substantial threat to advocacy groups in particular, according to the statement.
“The Lawyers Committee for Human Rights calls on the Egyptian parliament to amend the draft law to strike a better balance between the government's legitimate interest in ensuring that NGOs operate transparently and the need for NGOs to be free from state control,” said the statement.
The most serious aspect of the proposed law is a provision allowing the Ministry of Social Affairs to seize the assets of and dissolve an NGO, with no legal right of appeal being afforded the association. Other measures of state control include governmental approval of members of the board as well as for foreign funding.
“As their name suggests, a basic function of non-governmental organizations is that they should be independent of state authorities. They embody diverse elements within pluralistic societies, meeting the needs and representing the different perspectives of various groups and communities.
“Some, like human rights monitoring groups, play an important role as watchdogs of government policy and operationalize such abstract concepts as transparency and accountability, thereby contributing to better government.
“The proposed new law would perpetuate the Egyptian government's practice of using the guise of "regulation" to impose restrictive laws governing the functioning of associations, making it virtually impossible for an NGO in Egypt to be both legally registered and independent,” it said.
The statement was concluded with a call to allow a revision of the bill in cooperation with NGO representatives to ensure the law would comply with international human rights norms and standards.
