The Sri Lanka Government has decided to enact a law on Non Government Organizations (NGOs) that will compel them to register with the National Secretariat.
The NGOs in Sri Lanka currently come under the Voluntary Social Service Organizations (Registration and Supervision) Act Number 31 of 1980 and Voluntary Social Service Organizations (Registration and Supervision) (Amendment) Act Number 8 of 1998.
The Secretariat, under the Ministry of Defence, has 1421 NGOs registered under it, reports the Daily Mirror.
In a recent incident, the NGOs were instructed by the secretariat to avoid conducting press conferences if it was not mentioned in their annual action plans approved by the Secretariat.
According to sources, some NGOs had disobeyed the instructions.
The proposed law would be an amendment in the existing law, said the director of the NGO Secretariat, Saman Dissanayake.
On failing to register with the Secretariat, NGOs will witness restrictions on getting foreign funding, said Dissanayake.
The director said that the bill was almost ready.
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