NGO Forum

Minister vows to help foreign groups and applauds their development role

By Daniel Ren

South China Morning Post

The mainland’s public security chief has sought to ease fears about a proposed new law governing foreign NGOs, pledging to help the non-governmental organisations operate.

Minister of Public Security Guo Shengkun told representatives from a group of NGOs in Shanghai on Friday that the authorities appreciated their contributions to the country’s social development.

Guo also said the mainland would learn from their professionalism to deepen cooperation with other countries in economics, science, education, culture, health care, sport, environmental protection and charity, Xinhua reported yesterday.

The interior ministry informed the Supreme Court on Thursday that the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) had issued notices to 1,427 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and religious seminaries to submit details of their annual audit account, yearly reports, projects, etc.

The Express Tribune

On July 3 a three-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, had sought a comprehensive report on the ICT’s measures to regularise NGOs in accordance with the National Action Plan (NAP).

The Duma’s Federation Council has placed 12 foreign NGOs in Russia on a blacklist and forbidden any activity in the country. The new legislation has placed even tighter restrictions on NGOs in Russia than before.

Deutsche Welle

The first step was to force domestic non-governmental organizations in Russia to register as “agents.” Now Moscow has gone a step further and taken aim at foreign NGOs active in the country. According to freshly passed legislation, cooperation with foreign organizations is punishable by law.

By Rohini Mohan

The Economic Times

This April, about 30,000 nongovernmental organisations (NGOs), foundations and societies dependent on foreign donations faced a quandary as their five-year Foreign Contributions (Regulation) Act (FCRA) registration expired. Thousands of them have been applying for renewals as an FCRA registration is required for them to receive any foreign donations.

NGOs filled paper forms, gathered account reports, and applied for the first-ever FCRA renewal through postal submission. The FCRA department in the ministry of home affairs (MHA) must process renewals in 90 days. Instead, on June 17, it proposed new rules to replace the FCRA Rules of 2011. These seek to digitise applications and impose more compliances on NGOs.