NGO restrictions

• Bangladesh: Odhikar faces another blow as government upholds de-registration decision

  The decision by the Prime Minister’s Office of Bangladesh to uphold the de-registration of prominent human rights organisation Odhikar is appalling and demonstrates the government’s ongoing efforts to crush the organisation and stifle human rights work in the country, CIVICUS, the global civil society alliance said today.

• The International Community Must Support and Protect Palestinian Civil Society

  بالعربية

  As a group of 242 regional and international organisations, we express our full solidarity with Palestinian civil society and human rights defenders as Israel continues to escalate its attacks to shut down critical human rights work and silence opposition to its occupation of Palestinian territory and apartheid over the Palestinian people as a whole. We urge the international community to take all necessary action to support and protect Palestinian civil society and human rights defenders and ensure the continuation of their invaluable work.

• Uganda: End Repression of civil society

  🇺🇬#Uganda: A clampdown on civil society has led to the suspension of 54 NGOs, including orgs that work on:
  🔴Human rights
  🟡Environment
  🔵Religious issues
  🟢Democracy
  We have written to the @NGObureau calling for their immediate reinstatement https://t.co/V2AJpcXVVT pic.twitter.com/dAg7aTtStw

  — CIVICUS (@CIVICUSalliance) August 30, 2021

  Joint statement on Uganda’s NGO Bureau suspension of 54 NGOs in the country

  Uganda’s NGO Bureau, the country’s regulatory authority for non-governmental organizations (NGOs), should immediately rescind the decision to suspend 54 organizations that they have classified as NGOs, which comes in the context of intensifying intimidation and harassment of civil society organizations. The suspension is intended to restrict the rights to freedom of expression and association and stop the activities of independent civil society organizations that are perceived as critical of the authorities.

  On 20 August 2021, the National Bureau for NGOs (NGO Bureau) ordered the immediate suspension of these organizations claiming that they had failed to comply with NGO legislation, including by operating with expired permits, failing to file accounts, or failing to register with the Bureau.

  According to the Uganda National NGO Forum, most of the organizations were not informed of the Uganda NGO Bureau’s decision or given an opportunity to respond in advance.

  Uganda’s 2016 NGO Act imposes burdensome requirements for application for permits for NGOs with multiple layers of registration with periodic renewal applications, and organisations are required to have memorandums of understanding with the district they operate in. There is also lack of clarity over which organizations fall under this regulatory regime.

  The suspension of the organizations is arbitrary, as it goes against Section 33 (2) of the NGO Act, which requires the Bureau to give 30 days’ notice in writing to permit holders to enable them to show cause why the permit should not be revoked. Suspension of independent civil society organizations simply for carrying out their work is an attack on human rights, including the rights to freedom of expression and association. Suspending civil society organizations also exposes those organizations to additional legal risks if they are unable to pay staff or suppliers.

  Many of the organizations affected work in critical areas such as legal practices to help poor or marginalized people. Others work on accountability and transparency in the oil sector, and some monitored human rights in the context of the elections. To shut down organizations working so closely with Ugandans abruptly will hurt people who rely on their services or advocacy.

  The rights to freedom of expression and association are guaranteed under Articles 9 and 10 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights to which Uganda is a state party. Accordingly, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights issued guidelines on freedom of association and assembly as provided for in the African Charter, that among other things prohibits states from compelling associations to register to be allowed to exist and to operate freely. Further, informal organisations shall not be punished or criminalized under the law or in practice based on their lack of formal status. This decision by the NGO Bureau is a clear demonstration of the repressive nature in which Ugandan authorities have continued to clamp down on civic space and human rights.

  The NGO Bureau is mandated to play a regulatory and facilitative role in creating an enabling environment for non-profit organizations in Uganda, but this has not been the case in the recent past.

  We acknowledge the positive discussions held between the Minister of Internal Affairs and Civil Society Leaders on 24 August and implore the minister to expeditiously follow through the commitments made to redress the anomalies in the suspension of some of the affected NGOs and establish an Adjudication Committee as required by the law. We further call on authorities in Uganda to ensure that civil society actors involved in promoting fundamental rights can freely exercise their rights consistent with Ugandan Constitution and the country’s international human rights obligations including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

  Signed off by the following civil society organizations:

  1. ActionAid International Africa
  2. Advocacy Network for Africa (AdNA)
  3. AfricanDefenders (the Pan-African Human Rights Defenders Network)
  4. Amnesty International
  5. Asylum Seeker, Refugee & Migrant Coalition (ASRM Coalition)
  6. Campaign for Good Governance (CGG – Sierra Leone)
  7. Campaign for Human Rights and Development International (CHRDI)
  8. Center for Advancement of Rights and Democracy (CARD – Ethiopia)
  9. Center for Constitutional Governance
  10. Center for International Governance, Peace and Justice (CIGPJ – South Sudan)
  11. Center for Youth Advocacy and Development (CEYAD)
  12. Centre for Democracy and Development (CCD)
  13. Change Tanzania
  14. Chapter One Foundation Zambia
  15. CIVICUS
  16. Civil Society Human Rights Advocacy Platform of Liberia
  17. Civil Society Reference Group - Kenya
  18. Consortium of Ethiopian Human Rights Organizations (CEHRO)
  19. Crown The Woman – South Sudan
  20. Digital Society of Africa
  21. DITSHWANELO - The Botswana Centre for Human Rights
  22. Echoes of Women in Africa Initiative (ECOWA – Nigeria)
  23. Ethiopian Human Rights Defenders Center (EHRDC)
  24. FIDH (International Federation for Human Rights)
  25. Foundation for Democratic and Accountable Governance (FODAG – South Sudan)
  26. Haki Africa
  27. Haki Kenya Organisation
  28. Human Rights Defenders Network (HRDN – Sierra Leone)
  29. Human Rights Institute of South Africa (HURISA)
  30. Independent Human Rights Investigators (IHRI – Liberia)
  31. Initiative for Equality and Non-discrimination (INEND)
  32. Inuka Kenya Ni Sisi!
  33. Institute for Democracy and Leadership – Swaziland
  34. Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC)
  35. Khulumani Support Group
  36. Kongamano La Mapinduzi Movement
  37. Mozambique Human Rights Defenders Network
  38. Network of the Independent Commission for Human Rights in North Africa
  39. Nigerian Human Rights Defenders Network
  40. Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA)
  41. Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU)
  42. Panos Institute Southern Africa (PSAf)
  43. Partnership for Justice (PJ)
  44. Protection International Kenya
  45. Resource Rights Africa (RRA)
  46. South Sudan Human Rights Defenders Network (SSHRDN)
  47. Southern African Human Rights Defenders Network (SAHRDN)
  48. Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition (THRDC)
  49. World March of Women - Kenya
  50. Yiaga Africa
  51. Youth and Society (YAS - Malawi)
  52. Youth Forum for Social Justice
  53. Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum
  54. Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR)

  Civic space in Uganda is rated as repressed by the CIVICUS Monitor.

  *Photo credit: Chaper Four Uganda

• Uganda: Lift restrictions on NGOs and respect freedom of assembly and expression

  🇺🇬#Uganda: The closure & suspension of over 50 #NGOs is a new low for human rights in a country with a history of severe restrictions on civil society groups.
  
  President @KagutaMuseveni must rescind the suspensions of affected NGOs: https://t.co/OQr6WNe4Ld pic.twitter.com/fH5dzleOFk

  — CIVICUS (@CIVICUSalliance) August 26, 2021

  CIVICUS, a global alliance of civil society organisations and activists dedicated to strengthening citizen action and civil society throughout the world is seriously concerned over a decision by the Ugandan authorities to close and suspend the operations of 54 non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

  On 20 August 2021, The National Bureau for Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO Bureau) under the Ministry of Internal Affairs published a decree, revoking operational licences and certificates of 15 NGOs and halting the operations of 36 others. Many of those affected highlight human rights violations and have contributed to civil society development in Uganda. The Ugandan government accuses the NGOS of failing to register with the NGO Bureau or for operating with expired NGO permits. Those indefinitely suspended are accused of consistently failing to file annual returns and audited books of accounts and for failing to comply on other issues.

  “The dissolution of these organisations is a new low for human rights in a country that has continuously failed to respect fundamental freedoms, including freedom of association. The closure and suspension of organisations is intended to silence independent civil society voices committed to defending human rights and civic space in Uganda,” said David Kode, Advocacy and Campaigns Lead for CIVICUS.

  The closure and suspension of these organisations follows several restrictions imposed on NGOs, including a national validation exercise in 2019. Government justified the restrictions by stating they were needed to identify entities involved in “unscrupulous activities,” and to prevent unregistered NGOs from laundering money. Although the Public Order Management Act was constitutionally nullified by the court in March 2020, it is still being used by the government to limit fundamental freedoms including the right to assemble and association.

  The NGO Bureau has imposed the current restrictions on civil society organisations at a time when members of security personnel continue to enjoy high levels of impunity for targeting human rights defenders and journalists.

  CIVICUS calls on the government of President Yoweri Museveni to rescind the suspensions of all NGOs affected, respect its international human rights obligations, and create an enabling environment for civil society organisation and human rights defenders.

  The CIVICUS Monitor, an online platform that tracks threats to civil society in countries across the globe, rates civic space – the space for civil society – in Uganda as repressed.

  For more information, please contact:
  David Kode
  Advocacy and Campaigns Lead
  Email:

• Venezuelan government must protect not persecute human rights defenders

  Johannesburg. 29 July 2010: A group of civil society organisations from across the globe have expressed alarm about systematic restrictions on civil society freedoms of expression, association and assembly in Venezuela, including persecution of human rights defenders. On 14 July, President Chavez had called for a criminal investigation of human rights organizations accused of taking funds from the United States government for the purpose of destabilizing the Venezuelan government. The call for an "in depth investigation" into the funding sources of Venezuelan NGOs is seen as the latest in a long series of growing restrictions on human rights, particularly the freedom of expression. 
  
  Harassment tactics, including public threats and judicial proceedings, are regularly used by the government of Venezuela to silence critics and undermine human rights defenders and journalists. Earlier this year, a member of the opposition political party - Oswaldo Alvarez Paz - was arrested for commenting on Venezuela's involvement in the drug trade on charges of "conspiracy against the government". He is currently facing a possible two to sixteen year sentence. On 11 June, journalist Francisco Perez was given a 3 years and 9 months prison sentence, stripped of his professional certification, and ordered to pay a nearly $ 20,000 fine for publishing an article on corruption in the local Valencia government. Reports of threats, harassment, and abuse on the ground continue as many activists and members of the media are forced to operate in dangerous circumstances.