Experts, however, remain skeptical about Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s vow to ease restrictions on non-profit entities and other organizations that advance civil liberties
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced early this month during an international youth summit in Sharm al-Sheikh that his government intends to set up a committee tasked with reconsidering a controversial law passed last year that restricts the operations of non-profit organizations.
The legislation in question – Law 70 – requires strict registration of non-profit entities such as non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and activist-oriented associations, which would allow the government to shut down any such organization that it considers a threat to “national security, public safety [and] public order.” Analysts say the law is just one a series of rulings that restrict civil liberties in Egypt following a major government upheaval in 2011.
Law 70 also regulates a non-profit organization’s internal activities by requiring prior government approval for conducting field research or opinion polls. It restricts the sources, domestic or international, from which it can draw funding. Lastly, it vaguely prohibits any initiative that involves “any work of a political nature.”
While the decision to review the law seems to be a step towards deregulating non-profit activist and development groups, James Moran, an Associate Senior Research Fellow at the European Centre for Policy Research and former EU Ambassador to Egypt, told The Media Line that “previous drafts of the law have been widely criticized by the international community and rightly so. The hope is that they will soften the restrictions and open up more space to civil society.
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“However, the record of this government so far is not particularly good, and it will take a major change in its attitude for this to change; I remain skeptical,” Moran added.
Amr Magdi, a researcher at the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch, echoed Moran’s concerns: “Policymakers should not be fooled by Sisi’s overdue order to review Egypt’s draconian ‘NGO law’ that he himself approved.
“Instead, lawmakers should look at the intensifying relentless crackdown on civil society under President Sisi’s rule, including the near-absolute ban on peaceful assembly,” Magdi added.
“It’s pretty clear that one of Sisi’s main goals in such a crackdown is to prevent independent work that could potentially uncover horrific abuses such as pervasive torture and disappearances by security forces.”
Egypt’s ranking on multiple civil liberties and development indices remains grim. It ranks a mere 14 out of 100 on the World Bank’s Voice and Accountability Index and is considered “not free” in terms of political rights, according to the Freedom House index.
“The only progress that should be championed would be [the law’s] full repeal and for its replacement to be crafted in real dialogue with members of the civil society and the UN Special Rapporteur on rights in the country,” Magdi said.
He added that the Special Rapporteur requested to visit Egypt three times – in 2011, 2013 and 2017 – but was not granted permission.
(Victor Cabrera is a student intern in The Media Line’s Press and Policy Student Program)