Information You Can Use: A Bi-monthly Service for the UN and Civil Society
Volume 2, Issue 4, July-August 2005
Rights Group Says Egypt
NGO Law Hampers Democracy
30 July 2005
Source: Arab
Times (Kuwait) - Reuters
Human Rights Watch said on Monday that Egypt was unlikely to become a functioning democracy under its present system of state supervision of non-governmental organisations.
Egyptian NGOs, even under a more liberal law that came into force in 2003, face severe restrictions and security interference in their activities, the New York-based group said in a 45-page report entitled "Margins of Repression".
"It (the 2003 law) entrenches a system in which NGOs are treated as the children of a paternalistic government," it said.
One of the most serious barriers is the role of the security services, which routinely review and reject NGO registrations and scrutinise their leaders, activities and funding, it added.
"If people cannot form, run and fund civil society organisations, then there is little chance of a functioning democracy or equitable, sustainable development," it said.
The Egyptian government says it is committed to political reform but it continues to restrict the formation of political parties, trade unions and civil society organisations, either by laws or through the wide powers of the security services.
The report cited cases of the authorities refusing to register NGOS without giving reasons, obstructing their activities arbitrarily, blocking their funds, or interfering in the choice of their leaders.
It recommended the government change the law to make registration voluntary and remove all restrictions on the right to peaceful expression and association.
It said the Ministry of Insurance and Social Affairs, which
supervises NGO registration, had not answered questions from Human Rights
watch on the way it implements the law.