22 - 28 November 2001
Issue No.561
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 22 - 28 November 2001 Issue No.561 |
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New law, old problems
The Minister of Social Affairs has promised to discuss the proposed new NGO law with NGOs. But the organisations themselves are sceptical. Mariz Tadros reports
Amina El-Guindi, minister of social affairs and insurance, surprised participants at a conference on "Civil Society in the Future" last week by announcing that a new bill regulating NGO activities "will not be passed without checking on public opinion." "When it is time for the bill to be discussed, we will present it for discussion to all NGOs," she said. El- Guindi added, however, that the bill is not on the agenda of the Shura Council or the People's Assembly because "the state is occupied with more pressing issues of an economic nature and relating to international agreements."
The previous law regulating NGO activities, Law 153, was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Constitutional Court in June 2000, just six months after it took effect. The law was scuttled because it wasn't presented to the Shura Council before being presented to the People's Assembly. The government then reverted to Law 32, passed in 1964, until a new law could be drafted and presented to the council and assembly. Immediately after the Supreme Constitutional Court sent Law 153 to the legal dustbin, high officials argued that since the law was repudiated on account of a technicality, rather than content, there would be no new discussions and consultations with NGOs. El-Guindi's announcement, therefore, came as a surprise.
NGO activists interviewed by Al- Ahram Weekly are sceptical. Lawyer Ahmed Seif, from the Hisham Mubarak Centre for Legal Aid, an association whose members refused to register under the previous law and opted instead to become a law firm, welcomed any gesture from the government which might open dialogue with civil society. But Seif was quick to add: "Our experience is negative, since, in our previous discussions with the ministry, the draft that we discussed was not the one sent to the People's Assembly."
Another NGO activist, Amir Salem, director of the National Association for Human Rights and Human Development, was of the same view. Salem finds the idea of the government engaging in discussions with NGOs dubious. "Let's hope it is not a new guise for old illusions of democratic dialogue. The way the last law was passed doesn't give us high hopes for this one."
Hafez Abu Se'da, secretary-general of the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights, does not believe the ministry will take a serious initiative in opening dialogue with NGOs. "In fact, we now expect a law worse than Law 153. We are anticipating that the official argument will be that, in view of international developments, such as the alleged threat of Islamic associations using their funds for terrorist activities, there is a need to impose additional restrictions for security reasons," he said.
A version of a draft law was published last week via the book series issued by the weekly economic magazine Al-Ahram Al-Iqtisadi, which the magazine claimed was approved by the State Council. Abu Se'da said the purported draft differs from Law 153 only in one respect: it gives administrative courts, and not courts of first instance, authority to rule on disputes between the Ministry of Social Affairs and NGOs. This was one of the demands previously made by NGOs on the grounds that court of first instance judges have no expertise in administrative matters.
Abu Se'da explained that the two other principal issues to which NGOs had objected -- funding and penalties -- remain intact in the purported draft. With respect to funding, NGOs had lobbied for the right to accept foreign funding without prior permission from the government, while giving the authorities full authority to conduct an audit after the money is spent. As for penalties for deviations, NGOs felt that the punishments provided by the law were out of proportion to the offence.
NGO activists vowed that they will wage a campaign against any future NGO law that is similar to Law 153. Their previous campaign against Law 153 included a silent demonstration in front of the People's Assembly, a hunger strike by three activists and several meetings and press releases.
Egyptian human rights organisations showed a unified stand at the Conference against Racism in Durban, but the chances of reaching a general consensus on a law regulating their relationship with the government and, consequently, their very survival, may be difficult.
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