Egyptian rights groups: 40,000 NGOs face the threat of nationalisation

Some 40,000 civil society organisations are facing the threat of nationalisation if a new bill drafted by the Ministry of Social Solidarity gets approved into law, an Egyptian non-governmental organisation has warned.

The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) said, in a press release that was made available to the Anadolu news agency, that it sent a memorandum to President Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi on Tuesday “expressing its concern for the negative direction taken by the Ministry of Social Solidarity which contravenes the spirit and letter of the constitution and demonstrates hostility towards civil society.”

Civil society organisations operate in Egypt in accordance with a law that was issued in 2002. A new bill was drafted in 2013 when the ousted President Mohamed Morsi was in power and it was set to be issued by the Shura Council – the upper chamber of the Egyptian parliament, which was in charge of legislation in the absence of the Representatives Council as per a transitional article in the 2012 Constitution. However, the Shura Council was dissolved on July 3, 2013, preventing the bill from being approved. The minister for social solidarity announced in July that a new bill had been drafted.

Human rights activists criticised the 2013 bill on the grounds that it sought to reproduce a police state by legalising the security apparatuses’ role in monitoring the work of civil society.

“Closely resembling the proposed law put up for discussion during the Muslim Brotherhood’s rule, the new bill aims to nationalise some 40,000 civil society groups and make them quasi-governmental adjuncts,” CIHRS added in its statement.

CIHRS called for resuming work on the bill that was drafted by civil society organisations in February in cooperation with the then Minister of Social Solidarity Dr Ahmed El-Borai, who assumed office after Morsi’s ouster and left the cabinet in the latest reshuffle.

“These groups took part in more than six months of negotiations with the Ministry of Social Solidarity under former minister Dr Ahmed El-Borai, at the end of which he submitted a new bill to regulate civic organisations to the Cabinet in February, in preparation for its submission to the incoming parliament,” CIHRS stated. “In a surprise move, however, the new minister of social solidarity disregarded the effort of the former minister and civil society and unveiled another proposed law on June 26, which flagrantly contravenes the spirit and the letter of the constitution.”

The new bill that was announced in June has a number of articles that have raised concerns among civil society organisations, such as an article about the formation of a “coordinating committee” – a committee comprising representatives of eight governmental and security bodies including a representative of the Ministry of Interior and a representative of the National Security Service”. The committee is supposed to be in charge of deciding on foreign funding requests and the registration of new NGOs, according to opposition groups.

The bill, they believe, gives the coordinating committee vast powers, as it is authorised to reject foreign funding for NGOs without providing reasons. The bill does not specify the points that the committee may object to. The committee may also object to the founding of any new NGO on very vague bases such as “violating national sovereignty” or under the pretext that the organisation’s activity does not match society’s needs.

Other articles that caused an uproar among rightists include articles authorising the Ministry of Social Solidarity to veto and cancel decisions taken by NGOs’ boards of directors. Human rightists believe that this puts NGOs under the complete control of the Ministry of Social Solidarity.

The Anadolu news agency could not obtain an immediate response from the Ministry of Social Solidarity.