Cambodia : Call for NGO law overhaul

Call for NGO law overhaul
Thomas Miller and Vong Sokheng
Tuesday, 04 January 2011

Several hundred NGO representatives met in Phnom Penh yesterday to discuss concerns and recommendations regarding a controversial new draft NGO law, just days ahead of a consultation with the government on the issue.

“Our aim today is to make one joint statement with a clear position,” said Lun Borithy, executive director of the Cooperation Committee for Cambodia. “If we protect only one tree, all the trees in the forest will be destroyed.”

A draft statement dated Sunday and signed by 10 civil society organisations, states that after careful consideration of the law, they believe it is designed “to control rather than strengthen civil society; to remove civil rights; and to hinder the Cambodian democratic process”.

In an effort to coordinate the response within the sector, the CCC, with input from a wide range of major domestic and international NGOs operating in Cambodia, has also put together a consolidated report on the draft law. They plan to finalise recommendations to submit to the government ahead of Monday’s consultation.

The most recent draft of the report, dated January 2 and obtained by The Post yesterday, states that NGOs “recognise the need for a law regulating non-governmental entities” but that interest “must be balanced to ensure the freedom of its citizens to engage in law-abiding activities without undue restrictions or burdens”.

The report goes on to recommend wide-ranging changes to the legislation in order to safeguard the right to freedom of association.

The draft law, officially known as the Law on Associations and Non-Governmental Organisations, has prompted concerns that informal groups of people will be banned from collective activities unless they are registered formally under the law, limiting democratic and grassroots activism.

Article 6, which states that associations and NGOs that are not registered in accordance with the law “shall not be allowed to operate any activity” in Cambodia, “clearly violates” the right to organise freely, the report states.

“This is a serious challenge, as it creates a Catch-22 in which activities to attract members and gauge interest are potentially illegal but yet without such activities, it may be difficult to gain membership,” it reads. The report adds that this may be “a deliberate strategy to prevent undesirable organisations from working or registering by delaying an MoU
or registration”.

Registration and reporting requirements in the law would also pose serious challenges to small and provincial organisations, the report argues, recommending an exemption from registration for informal community-based networks that share information but do not undertake activities.

The report suggests the draft law also draws a troublesome distinction between “domestic” and “foreign” NGOs, which appear to be determined on the basis of their staff’s nationality, rather than the content and scope of their operations.

By setting up requirements that only “Khmer nationals” can register associations and domestic NGOs, and that only foreigners can register international groups, the draft law “effectively denies foreign nationals the right to participate as founders in either associations or domestic NGOs” as well as the right of Khmer nationals to participate when registering an international NGO.

The report suggests eliminating nationality requirements and reducing the required number of members for establishing associations, set in the draft at 21 members and seven leaders. Individuals and groups should be able to decide whether or not to register their associations, the report states.

It also points to the lack of “clear and concise guidelines” for organisations facing involuntary suspension or termination. “There is also no requirement for the governmental authorities to provide notice to organisations under threat of involuntary suspension or termination,” the report adds.

Yesterday’s meeting, which was closed to press and included about 250 NGO representatives, followed a public statement, printed as an ad in local newspapers, by the Cooperation Committee of Cambodia, NGO Forum on Cambodia and Medicam, calling for “an extended consultation process”.

The government balked at the request yesterday, saying that the issue was a long time coming and the government had already delayed the consultation from December 28 to January 10 following pressure from NGOs.

“The government planned to draft the law since 2000 and all the NGOs knew for a long time,” said Khieu Sopheak, spokesman for the Ministry of Interior. He added that the government will accept NGO recommendations on the draft “if their demands are made in appropriate manner”.

“If the NGOs want to respect the law there is nothing complicated and nothing to be concerned about,” he said.

“When the NGO law is adopted, the role of democracy in Cambodia will be strengthened. The NGOs will have to respect the law.”

phnompenhpost.com

The clampdown continues....

I wouldn't see this as a clampdown but as a necessary culling.

There are too many in the country, doing nothing but skimming money.

Most of these are Cambodian ones, BTW.

Hun Sen focuses ire on NGO law critics
Thomas Miller and Vong Sokheng
Wednesday, 05 January 2011

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday took aim at critics of the government’s new draft NGO legislation, ahead of a government-hosted consultation on the issue on Monday.

Speaking at the inauguration of a high school in Kampong Cham province, Hun Sen slammed critics of the law in the NGO community, arguing that they were demanding too many rights.

“How many rights do you have so far? You have many rights to insult [the government] every day,” Hun Sen said in his speech. “Or do you need more rights to hit the heads of others?”

The premier deflected recent concerns from NGOs that the intent of the new draft law was to control, rather than enable, civil society and suggested that organisations were exceeding their mandate.

“Even now, if there is a draft [law] to control NGOs, they play the role of the National Assembly. [The government] will allow a consultation but the adoption of the law depends on the National Assembly,” he said.

Local rights group Licadho yesterday released a new analysis of the draft legislation, containing some of the most trenchant criticisms of the law yet.

It states that the draft, made public December 15, “confirms long-standing fears that the government’s desire for such a law is in order to control, rather than promote and strengthen, civil society”.

The law is the third attempt by the government to regulate the country’s large NGO sector.

Licadho claimed the draft was a direct attack on the independence of NGOs, going on to say that it constitutes “the most serious threat to civil society in years”.

“The draft law seeks to take the ‘N’ out of ‘NGOs’, turning them into de facto government organisations,” the report states.

“It ignores the very concept of NGOs, associations and other civil society actors, that they are independent and should not be controlled by the government.”

Licadho said there are several specific areas of concern in the draft law, including restrictions on freedom of association, registration requirements, the authority given to government officials, reporting requirements and restrictions placed on foreign NGOs.

Meanwhile, following a meeting with roughly 250 NGO representatives in Phnom Penh on Tuesday, four umbrella organisations released a joint statement calling for changes to the draft law.

The Cooperation Committee for Cambodia, NGO Forum on Cambodia, Medicam and the Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee said the draft law would “restrict” the work of NGOs working in all sectors of the Kingdom by placing “significant barriers on their registration and implementation of their work”.

The four groups plan to submit detailed recommendations to the government in a report that they said represents the inputs of more than 500 civil society organisations on the new legislation.

The statement called for a longer consultation period and the establishment of a “joint working group” made up of government and civil society representatives.

Lun Borithy, executive director of CCC, said the NGOs had completed their analysis and would make it public today. CCC senior operations and finance manager Soeung Saroeun said CCC representatives met with officials from the Ministry of Interior yesterday.

phnompenhpost.com

pardon my lack of puncuation i am new to this forum but here are my thoughts on the matter yeah that is a great idea has the royal government of Cambodia given any thought that perhaps the countless ngo`s let into the country under the guise of human rights are only there for tax purposes and the areas the reside in are in no better shape not only are they too powerful and they need to have time limits on how long they are able to serve in Cambodia for the most part they really serve no purpose oh and another thing if you only knew how many ngo`s bar fine young Khmer's the NGO creates a photo-op for his - mostly Christian - donors and bar fines the girl afterwords. now you tell me is it still right for ngo`s to be in Cambodia sure they have helped clean up Cambodia in certain ways but enough is enough they should not be allowed to get any more powerful than they already are not only that but the royal Cambodian government should throw them out of the country either that or seriously put limitations on these ngo`s are also pushing their religion on the Khmer when is enough enough that is my question and many others want to know the same thing ngo`s in no way are helping Cambodia`s economy so why even allow them to gain anymore power

So, what part of punctuation is it that you don't understand?

And what does it have to do with being new to the board?

A bit mixed up today eh?

He got a very bad time on another board for both lack of punctuation and not taking comments about it very well. He also refuses to actually discuss what his post are actually about and why he feels compelled to post only on a single subject.
TH

Punctuation is very important. Like washing your undies.:)

yeah your right but than again who likes being bashed? perhaps i was a little over sensitive about accepting constructive criticism. i was never! good at punctuation and as far as my posting about a single topic lol i was just a random rant lol i`ll admit that but that doesnt give you the right to continue bashing me. there are a lot of thing i would like to know about like the weather and the languages IE Thai and Khmer oh and cooking so before you judge me know that you yourself are in no way perfect yourself