Egyptian Rights Groups Criticize Proposed NGO Law

On Tuesday, the Egyptian Ministry of Insurance and Social Affairs released a proposed law governing the activities of nongovernmental organizations. Mohammed Al Demerdash, legal advisor to the ministry, said the law was not finalized and was still accepting amendments. Demerdash made clear, however, that the issue of foreign funding for Egyptian NGOs was a “red line,” and said “organizations, whether religious or doing development, are subject to oversight, and no one is above the law.” Article 13 of the proposed law states that organizations have the right to seek funding and donations from within Egypt and from “normal people,” Egyptian or foreign. Conversely, the law declares it impermissible for Egyptian organizations to receive any funding from outside Egypt, be it from an Egyptian, a foreigner or a foreign organization.

A coalition of human rights organizations, writing on the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights website, criticized the law and said it was being driven by “remnants of the dissolved National Democratic party” and “followers of the ousted dictator Hosni Mubarak” like Fayza Aboul Naga, the current Minister of International Cooperation. The coalition called the proposed legislation “more despotic” than the current rules, claiming it permits the state security services to oversee and reject a group’s activities and grants the power to suspend and dissolve civil society organizations. The coalition of rights organizations stated “we will not agree to any law unless it is democratic, permits freedom of civil action, and establishes the rules of oversight and transparency.”