By Marwa Al-A’asar
Over eight weeks after former president Hosni Mubarak stepped down, the laws governing some 26,000 civil society organizations operating in Egypt are still being fiercely debated.
Civil society groups, including a variety of non-governmental organizations (NGO) have always complained of the restrictions imposed on them by the government.
Both local and international NGOs faced similar obstacles, endless red-tape and state security interference in their operations.
The current Law 84 of 2002 regulating the work of civil society organizations enforced legislative restrictions on such activities.
In a direct affront to the right to freedom of association, the law grants the Ministry of Social Solidarity wide powers over the operations of these organizations.
The law further provides executive authorities political control over them, including restricting their access to foreign funding, limiting their ability to join international associations as well as wide powers of dissolution.
In fact the ministry can liquidate any association, seize its property, confiscate its documents and freeze its assets if it violates certain — vague — conditions.
In Feb. 2010, the General Federation of Associations and Civil Institutions, the entity regulating volunteer work in Egypt, drafted a new law to govern civil society organizations to replace Law 84 for 2002.
The law suggested that the process of receiving donations would be through the federation rather than through direct communication between the organization and the donor.
Several NGOs objected to the new law which never saw the light.
Since the federation’s board members are chosen via a direct presidential order, the destiny of civil society organizations was in turn at the mercy of the country’s president.
“[Yet] the real domineering force has always been the state security whereas the Ministry of Social Solidarity acted as a front desk,” says Hafez Abu Saeda, secretary general of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR).
“All civil society organizations were controlled by state security that would give orders to the ministry,” Abu Saeda, also a lawyer, told Daily News Egypt.
International organizations, on the other hand, required further approvals on their projects from the foreign ministry.
“Some projects required over five permits from different entities including state security,” according to an Egypt project manager at a US NGO, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not unauthorized to speak to the media.
“It all depended on the areas we work on. For example, if it’s an education project, then we had to seek the approval of the foreign ministry, the ministry of social solidarity, the education ministry plus state security,” the source told DNE.
According to the source, the state security adopted “conspiracy theories” when dealing with foreign NGOs.
“We have always been looked at as an organization conducting espionage operations,” the source said, laughing.
“In most cases, after we get the approval, the state security assigns one of its men, who is not even an officer, to supervise our work. So we would host him throughout the process of carrying out the project and bear with his attempts to interfere in our work to show that he understands what we do, while he in fact knows nothing.”
However, the situation may change since new Interior Minister Mansour El-Essawy has dismantled the notorious State Security apparatus, establishing a new ministry arm called National Security Agency. According to a ministry statement, the mandate of the new entity will be restricted to guarding the domestic front and combating terrorism.
The anonymous source further said that the organization he works for has halted its operations in Egypt till order is resorted in the country.
“On the other hand, it has become very difficult to communicate with officials since many were either sacked or don’t know what awaits them in the coming months,” the source said.
Another organization, Nahdet El-Mahrousa, has toiled going through similar obstacles.
“Though NGOs are legal entities, security officers dealt with them with suspicion. They would not consider them as catalysts for positive change in the communities where they operate,” organization chairman Loay El-Shawarby said.
Since 2003, Nahdet El-Mahrousa has been incubating several active projects in a variety of areas including youth development, research and development, arts and culture and environment.
Omaima Abu Bakr, acting director of the feminist Women and Memory Forum (WMF), told DNE that it would take the organization seven months to one year to get an approval on a project whose funds had already been granted.
“Even after we get the approval on a certain project, we are always subject to frequent visits…by Ministry of Social Solidarity employees to inspect the operation…especially anything related to finance,” Abu Bakr said.
“And they would interfere in our work under the pretext of reviewing financials,” she added.
Founded in 1995, the WMF is composed of a group of female academics, researchers and activists concerned about the negative representations and perceptions of Arab women in the cultural sphere.
“We have been trying to approach the new [caretaker] government to [call for] reviewing the relationship between the Ministry of Social Solidarity and civil society organizations,” Abu Bakr said.
Both Abu Saeda and the US organization’s project manager believe that change in the era following the January 25 Revolution will probably be “gradual” even in the absence of state security services.
“The problem in Egypt is that corruption has spread everywhere starting from the regime till the office boy at any entity,” the unnamed source said.
However, El-Shawarby is optimistic about the coming phase.
“I’m expecting a state of reconciliation between the civil society and the executive authority…and that the organizations’ operations will be smoothly undertaken for the greater development of Egypt,” he said.
Though the issue has not been addressed, Abu Saeda predicts that a new NGOs law will be drafted.
“Even the current law with its flaws, if applied objectively, could facilitate the work of civil society organizations,” Abu Saeda said. “There are no criteria for approving one activity and rejecting another.”
On her part, Abu Bakr still cannot figure what the coming phase will be like.
“We are just doing our job and cannot feel any difference till now. There are no indicators about the coming phase right now,” she said.
