Egypt—Restrictive Law on Associations and Foundations Proposed by Government; Less Restrictive Draft Submitted to Parliament by Civil Society

The raids on Egyptian and foreign CSOs in December 2011 (and reported on in the February IJCSL Newsletter) were followed on January 17, 2012 by an announcement from the Egyptian Ministry of Social Justice and Solidarity that it had completed a draft Law on Associations and Foundations to amend Egypt’s existing Law 84 of 2002. The proposed law is nearly identical to a draft prepared in March 2010 by a committee composed of members of the now-disbanded former ruling party and chaired by ex-Prime Minister Abdelaziz Hegazy. It places extreme burdens on CSOs. The Ministry announced a fifteen-day public comment period, after which the draft Law on Associations and Foundations is expected to be taken up by Egypt’s newly elected People’s Assembly as one of its first orders of legislative business. More than 55 Egyptian CSOs have refused to submit comments and are instead calling on the Ministry and the People’s Assembly to replace the draft with one endorsed and authored by Egyptian human rights organizations.  On January 31, the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights submitted the draft developed by CSOs to the Parliament.  For what the civil society draft contains, see http://en.eohr.org/2012/01/31/eohr-submits-the-ngos-draft-law-to-the-parliament/. More information about this will be availabl ein the March 2012 issue of the IJCSL Newsletter.

KWS