Ramallah, 29-08-07: The PNGO Coordinating Committee held an emergency meeting on 28 August 2007 to discuss the outcomes of the Palestinian government‘s decision to dissolve 103 civil society organisations (CSOs) in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
PNGO maintains that the decision by Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to dissolve such an unprecedented number of CSOs has created a state of confusion and has raised several questions about the motivations behind this decision. PNGO hopes that this decision is based on legal considerations, and not political dimensions.
As such, PNGO wishes to affirm the following points:
1. That PNGO assures its full commitment to respecting the rule of law, particularly Rule No. 1 of the laws governing non-governmental organisations, including the application of these laws to organisations that do not abide by the commitments upheld by these laws.
2. The decision to dissolve any organisation or cancel its registration must be announced by the Palestinian Ministry of Interior in writing, and the reasons behind this decision should be clearly specified according to the following laws:
a. If the General Assembly of the organisation decides to dissolve it with a two-thirds majority and informs the Ministry of Interior of this intention;
b. If the organisation does not begin its work as set out under its statues within one year of registration, unless due to factors outside the organisation‘s control. In such cases, registration licenses can be cancelled only after written notice is sent by the Ministry of Interior.
c. If it is demonstrated that the organisation has not abided by its statutes, and if it has not taken measures to address this within the period of three months after written notice has been sent by the Ministry of Interior.
3. In the case of a decision taken by the Ministry of Interior to revoke the license of any organisation, the organisation has the right to appeal this decision to the Higher Court of Justice.
4. If such an appeal is made, the organisation in question is allowed by law to continue its work until a decision is reached by the Higher Court of Justice.
Therefore, according to the above, PNGO calls on any organisation that has been dissolved in a manner that is not consistent with the legal regulations set out above, to contact PNGO immediately in order to seek help on appealing their dissolution.
Please contact:
PNGO Ramallah
Tel: 02-2975320/1
Fax: 02-2950704
PNGO Gaza
Tel: 08-2847518
Fax: 08-2835889
* Translation by the Palestinian National Initiative