Ramallah, 23-06-07: Palestinian civil society organisations (CSO‘s) today issued statements objecting to, and rejecting a decree issued by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday effectively revoking the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) law, which was seen as one of the most democratic and progressive in the region.
Under the former law, CSO‘s were required to submit an application for registration to the Palestinian Ministry of Interior (MOI) which would be accepted on the basis of whether or not it was consistent with the CSO law. The decree has now replaced this system of registration with the concept of licensing, a practice which Palestinian CSO‘s and past governments have consistently rejected.
The new decree contains the following articles:
Article 1 grants the Ministry of Interior the right to review all past registrations issued to CSO‘s by the MOI or any other governmental structure.
Article 2 gives the MOI or an authority delegated by it the right to close down or request changes to internal procedures in order for any given CSO to be eligible for licensing.
Article 3 requests all CSO‘s to re-apply for licensing (not registration) within the period of one week. All those who do not respond to this request will be penalised according to the law.
All of these articles are in violation of the Palestinian CSO law which does not give the government the right to influence or change the internal laws of CSO‘s.
The decree is being perceived as an attempt to control CSO‘s sympathetic to Hamas. Yet Palestinian CSO figures point out that such organisations have been able to operate without registering with the MOI and that they will continue to do so. As such, the decree has serious implications only for those CSO‘s that adhere to and respect the NGO law.
Palestinian CSO‘s are viewing the decree as a dangerous step that could represent an attack on CSO‘s and on Palestinian democracy, and see it as a move that could jeopardise the legal position of the new Palestinian emergency government.