2018-10-02

Ramallah

West Bank / position paper

A position paper issued by The Civic Coalition for Monitoring the Legislative Process: The decree-law draft on amending the Associations Act undermines the work of civil society organizations and threatens their sustainability

The Civic Coalition for monitoring the legislative process called earlier for a meeting, which was held at Al- Haq institution’s headquarters, to discuss the decree-law of 2018 on amending the Associations Act of 2000 and its amendments. This decree-law is on the Ministers’ council agenda, but was never available for a public discussion, along the same lines of the governmental approach to discussion and endorsement of emergency legislation (decree-laws) that are issued by the executive authority, without the participation of the civil society organizations, which are addressed in this decree-law that is related to their different issues, and under the persistence of the autocracy approach, the collapse of the political system, the absence of the legislative authority, and the collapse of the human rights system.  

This project is initiated under the executive authority’s persistent attempts to assert its control over the civic organizations and the non-profit corporations at the same time, through their attempts to amend the Association’s Act, right after their success in amending the system of non-profit corporations that work on achieving the same goals as civic organizations, and asserted its control over them, which firstly proves the executive authority’s persistent tendency to control the civil society organizations and to limit their role in monitoring the general performance and achieving justice and equality, and secondly proves that the executive authority lacks trust in the official monitoring bodies that monitor the performance of non-profit organizations and corporations according to the laws and the regulations governing their work, despite the  abundance of such organizations, their laws, and their system, and thirdly explains the executive authority’s persistent pursuit of finding alternative monitoring bodies and of controlling the  treasuries of non-profit organizations and corporations, at the expense of the Basic Law and the international treaties that Palestine has acceded to without having any reservations, and the related international standards. 

Because of the discussion of the civic coalition for monitoring the legislative process, on the decree-law amending the Association’s Act of 2000 and its amendments, the coalition reaffirms the following:   

1-    The decree-law threatens the civic organizations’ work sustainability through restricting their access to movable and immovable properties, by requiring that the possession of money is not for “saving or trading” which means that investing in the financial assets of the civic organizations, for the sake of self- reliance and sustainability achieving, is considered illegal under this law. The civic organizations’ work sustainability is also threatened by granting the executive authority the power to sell the immovable assets of civic organizations in a public auction if they did not use them during three years, what can cause the civic organizations a serious damage, and affect their sustainability.  

2-    The decree-law grants the Ministry of Internal Affairs wide powers to assert its control over civic organizations, requiring that the board elections of these organizations must be conducted under the ministry’s supervision, which also has the power to approve the elections’ results, and the power to allocate posts inside the board of directors, which can paralyze the work of the civil organizations, in case they did not have the approval of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.  

3-    The decree-law grants the Ministry of Internal Affairs wide powers that enable it to dismiss the board of directors in case it runs in contrary to any of the provisions of the Associations Act, its implementing regulations, and any of the governmental decisions or instructions issued on the regard of the Associations Act, immediately and with no advance warning. It also grants the Ministry of Internal Affairs the power to dismiss the civic organizations board of directors in case they run in contrary to the provision of its basic regulations, and regardless of the nature of the breach in case the organization did not adjust it within two months of the date of notifying the organization of this breach in writing, thus, this decree-law grants the Ministry of Internal Affairs a huge control over the performance of the civic organization, in contrary of the provisions of the Basic Law, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which both asserted that  the right to freedom of association and the right to free exercise of their activities, should be respected and guaranteed.

4-    The decree law implies an encroachment of the NGO’s general assembly’s powers through requiring that the competent ministry must attend the meetings of the general assembly, or else its meetings and the decisions taken during them will be considered invalid. The suggested decree-law ensures the defeat of the meetings of the general assembly of any civic institution in case the competent ministry refused to attend its meetings, bearing in mind that breaching any legal provision can lead the Ministry of Internal Affairs to dismiss the members of the board of directors as mentioned before. As a result, we are facing a clear control by the executive authority over the meeting, activities, and the funding sources of the civic institutions in violation of the Basic Law’s provisions and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Right to freedom of association.

5-    The decree law is a part of the approach of controlling the civic organizations by requiring the approval of the competent ministry on any activity that aims to collect donations from the audience or by organizing receptions and charity markets, or any other means of collecting donations for social needs, which was guaranteed by the original law as a right of the civic organizations to ensure the sustainability of its work, thus, this decree-law enables illegal interventions by the executive authority in the work of the organizations, besides the financial barriers that  face the civic organizations in Palestine, which threatens their sustainability. 

6-    The decree-law exaggerates in granting the Minister of the Interior the power to  dissolute the civic organizations by adding the statement “breaching the provision of the law” to the original text that only gives the minister of the interior the power to  dissolute the civic organizations in case they committed a fundamental breach of their basic code, and not adjusting it within 3 months of sending them a written notification in this regard, and without clarifying what is meant with the fundamental breach, thus, breaching any provision of the associations act of 2000 and its amendments can cause to  dissolute the organization  or the association in case the Minister of the Interior considered it a fundamental breach, and the association or the civic coalition did not correct it within the specifies period. 

7-    The decree-law obliges all civic organizations that are officially registered before enforcing it, to ‘settle its affairs’ according to the provision of this decree-law within a maximum of 9 months starting from the effective date, which means that all registered civic organizations in Palestine have to make major amendments on their code of conduct governing its work to harmonize it with the amendments of the mentioned decree-law, and to present this amended code to the Ministry of the Interior to adapt it according to the provisions of the Associations Act. In addition, in case the organizations did not do that during the period specified in the decree-law, this refraining might lead the Minister of the Interior to dissolute them, according to the provision of the mentioned decree-law.

Therefore, the Civic Coalition for Monitoring the Legislative Process reaffirms the following:

 
1-    Demanding the president, Mahmoud Abbas, to stop issuing decree-laws as they contradict the Basic Law by the absence of necessity needed to validate them constitutionally, and as they violate the rights mentioned in the international agreements and their entitlements, that Palestine has acceded to, and demanding the President to start the restoration of the political system, and to rehabilitate the constitutional principle, and to start the preparations for the general elections, and to enable the citizen to exercise their constitutional right  to choose their representatives  freely. 

  
2-    Demanding the president, Mahmoud Abbas, not to enforce the Association’s Decree-Law as it violates the provisions of the Basic Law, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, and the related international standards that guaranteed the right to freedom of associations and the freedom of their activities. 

3-    Activating the bodies that monitor that performance of the civic organizations in Palestine on the basis of respecting the principle of the rule of law, and respecting the international agreements, and their entitlements, that Palestine has acceded to, and stopping the government’s and the Ministry of the Interior Affairs’ persistent attempts to control the civic organizations, their activities and their sources of financing, which threatens their sustainability, especially that the civic organizations operate under a complex environment and the major financial issues they suffer from and building the relationship with civic organizations on the basis of partnership, integration, and  rights and freedoms safeguarding.

4-    Revising the executive authority’s approach of dealing with the civic organizations that are based on suspicion and mistrust, and to start dealing with the civic organizations as a real partner, not a competitor, in the development process, in policy-making, and in decision making. In addition, to respect the promises it made the civil society organizations, not to make any amendments on the Associations Act, before consulting them, as they are the addressed in the provisions of this law that governs its different issues. 

5-    The civil society organizations reaffirm that they will take a series of escalation procedures to face the amendments suggested by the executive authority on the associations act, on both national and international levels, by using the United Nation’s tools, in case the executive authority moved forward with those amendments that breach the Basic Law and the international standards, and moreover, persistently neglected the civic society. 

The Organizations of the Civic Coalition for Monitoring the Legislative Process

Al-Haq, Jerusalem Legal and Human Rights Center (JLAC), Palestinian Bar Association, Social and Economic Policies Monitor (MARSAD), Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, MUSAWA- The Palestinian Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession, ADDAMEER Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Palestinian non-Governmental Organization Network (PNGO), Women’s Affairs Technical Committee (WATC), Palestinian General Union of People with Disability, Coalition for Accountability and Integrity (AMAN), MUWATIN The Palestinian Institute for the Study of Democracy, Palestinian Independent Trade Union (FIUP), The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy MIFTAH, The Palestinian Commission for Human Rights, Human Rights and Democracy Media Center SHAMS, QADER for community Development, Palestine Governance Institute, Palestinian Governance Institute, Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights “Hurryyat”, The civic coalition for the dependence of the judiciary and the rule of the law “Istiqlal”, Stars of Hope Association, Media Development Center – Birzeit University