CIVICUS Condemns Zambia NGO Bill as a Threat to Civil Society Freedoms

CIVICUS, The World Alliance for Citizen Participation, has condemned the Zambian government’s second attempt to pass a highly restrictive NGO bill that is slated for the upcoming Parliamentary session.  First introduced in 2007, the original bill was struck down due to widespread criticism.  Although some of the original concerns for civil society freedoms have been addressed, as Ingrid Srinath, Secretary General of CIVICUS points out, there are key aspects that remained unchanged.

The Bill vests the government-dominated NGO Registration Board with overreaching powers to “approve” the area of work of NGOs; issue policy guidelines on “harmonizing” their work with the national development plan; and “advise” on strategies for efficient planning of activities.

The government can ask NGOs to submit important information regarding their activities, accounts and administration within an unspecified time frame. Failure to submit the information can result in suspension or cancellation of registration.

All NGOs, including community-based organizations, are required to submit themselves to compulsory registration which must be renewed every three years.  Registration can be denied in the “public interest”, which is not defined in the bill.

Also significant, the bill imposes a self-regulation and peer monitoring by obliging NGOs to adopt a code of conduct and create a Council of NGOs to coordinate the activities of their peers on a number of issues, including programs, fund raising and development of national human resources, keeping in mind “national security” and “public interest” needs.

SS