NGOs in Egypt criticise civil society bill

A group of 40 non-governmental organisations in Egypt today issued a statement against a new draft law regulating their activity, as a court sentenced 43 workers for working with unregistered NGOs.
According to the statement, the bill seeks to subject civic entities to executive oversight through a 'coordinating committee' endowed with powers to interfere in all matters related to foreign funding of local civil society groups and the licensing and operations of foreign NGOs working in Egypt.
"There is reason to believe that the [coordination] committee will include representatives from the security apparatus, as was explicitly stated in previous drafts.

"Membership in this committee will permit these bodies to control the activities of NGOs, especially by rejecting funding for certain activities.
"This raises the question of whether such governmental/security bodies, which might be implicated in human rights violations, would allow rights groups to receive funding or grant licenses to foreign NGOs to monitor human rights and document abuses for which these bodies may very well be primarily responsible," the statement said.
Even as the draft bill, proposed by President Mohammed Mursi and shortly to be debated by the interim legislature, is criticised by the civil society organisations, 43 nonprofit workers, including at least 16 Americans, were sentenced today for working with unregistered NGOs.

The court also ordered the closure of five foreign NGOs operating in Egypt and for their funds to be confiscated.

The bill infringes on the right of civil society organisations to freely choose the legal framework that best suits their activities, as it requires all NGOs to be officially licensed in order to operate, the statement said.
"This puts other types of entities - such as civil companies, law firms, and possibly even the many youth and social movements formed before and after the revolution - at risk of dissolution and confiscation of their assets and funds."
The joint declaration urged Egyptian authorities to delay passage of the proposed law and review its contents so as to ensure its compliance with international standards protecting the right to free association.

Signatories to joint statement included the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, the Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social Rights, the Human Rights Association for the Assistance of Prisoners and the Arab Network for Human Rights Information among others.