NGO Forum

By Joan Staples

The Conversation

The federal Liberal Party, government ministers, Coalition MPs, the Minerals Council of Australia and the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) are targeting the advocacy role of Australia’s environmental NGOs. In particular, they are trying to silence debate on climate change. The attacks are significant, they appear to be concerted and they are intimidating.

Under the Howard government, a ten-year campaign of attacks tried to “silence” non-government organisations. An IPA and government narrative sought to change Australia’s long-held idea of democracy – one in which many voices join in public debate. Instead, they spoke of democracy as a market in which NGOs “interfered”.

More European non-profit groups have thrown their weight behind a call by Greenpeace and HEAL for the European Commission to scrap the position of its Science Tsar, Anne Glover, in a letter sent to the incoming EU president, Jean-Claude Juncker, which EurActiv has seen.

By Arthur Neslen

EurActiv

A previous missive by nine, mostly environmental, NGOs sent to Juncker on 22 July provoked accusations that green groups were trying to shoot a science-based messenger who had occasionally taken advocacy positions that, for instance, favoured GMOs.

The Times of India

NEW DELHI: Over 21,000 NGOs were served notice by the home ministry for not submitting annual returns under Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, government said on Tuesday.

Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said notices were served to the 21,493 associations for not submitting annual returns for the period of 2006-09 and all of them were asked to reply along with postal proof or any other proof of address.

Rijiju said in case of 4,138 NGOs, letters dispatched from the home ministry were returned undelivered by the post office as addresses were not found and after due consideration their registrations were cancelled. The minister made the statement in Rajya Sabha in reply to a question on the issue.

The Russian government has forcibly registered five high-profile activist groups as ‘foreign agents,’ a term that the groups say carries connotations of espionage and unfairly discredits them in the public domain.

By Tamsin Walker

Deutsche Welle

Russian human and civil rights activists face continued challenges from the country’s “foreign agent” law, which was signed in July 2012, less than three months after Vladimir Putin’s presidential comeback.

Requiring politically active organizations that receive funding from overseas to register as “foreign agents,” the first incarnation of the legislation formed the basis for a nationwide campaign to inspect, warn and fine NGOs.

Editors Note: India’s Central bureau of Investigation has “informed the Supreme Court that the country has a mindboggling number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and counting them has become a difficult task as most do not file fund audit reports with authorities.”

The Times of India

NEW DELHI: The CBI on Tuesday informed the Supreme Court that the country has a mindboggling number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and counting them has become a difficult task as most do not file fund audit reports with authorities.