Egypt's new NGO law: Better, or ‘repackaged’ tyranny?
A law governing Egypt's civil society groups underwent numerous amendments before going into effect this month, but is still generating heated debate over its supposed benefits.
Egypt's recently enacted law regulating the work of nongovernmental organizations is continuing to draw heavy fire from many human rights activists who say it's mere window dressing, while others approve, calling it an improvement over the previous version from 2017.
The law, which also covers the broader category of civil society organizations, went into effect Aug. 22 after many amendments and much controversy.
The previous version was “catastrophic," Hafez Abu Saada, head of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, told Al-Monitor. "It greatly restricted NGO work. The new one is definitely better.”
He said, for example, that the new law allows associations to form by notifying one “appropriate administrative body.” The government hasn't decided which ministry that will be, but the process previously involved the ministries of interior, foreign affairs, and social solidarity, as well as National Intelligence, the Administrative Control Authority and the Egyptian Central Bank.
