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| Court of Egypt rules the NGO Law of 1999 Unconstitutional | Date: 09-06-2000 |
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CONSTITUTIONAL COURT OF EGYPT RULES THE NGO LAW OF 1999 UNCONSTITUTIONAL DECLARATION BY THE EURO-MEDITERRANEAN HUMAN RIGHTS NETWORK AND THE INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS LEAGUES The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) welcomes the ruling of the Egyptian Supreme Constitutional Court against the NGO Law of 1999. On 3 June, 2000 the Egyptian Supreme Constitutional Court ruled that the Law on Private Associations and Institutions (Law 153 of 1999) is unconstitutional on the grounds that the law had not been referred to the Council of State (Shura Council) before adoption by the People’s Assembly. The Court also made reference to the fact that disputes according to the law are to be settled by civil courts and not by the administrative courts; NGOs obtain recognition through a system of licensing and not by notification; and that violators of the law are subject to criminal penalties. * In their report on Freedom of Association and Human Rights Organisations in Egypt, May 1999, the EMHRN and the FIDH considered that the highly contested law, adopted by the People’s Assembly on 26 May, 1999, imposes a wide range of restrictions on the NGOs and gives the authorities far-reaching control of their activities. The EMHRN and the FIDH found that the law contains broad and vague language that can be used to deny legal status to any of the Egyptian NGOs; it gives wide discretion to authorities to harass any NGO with legal action; it provides the state unnecessary power to interfere with the management of independent NGOs. Finally, it was observed that strong indications existed to consider that the law was meant to block the work of human rights organisations. The EMHRN and the FIDH welcomes the ruling of the Constitutional Court which testifies to its independence and urges the competent Egyptian institutions to speed up the revision of the law in accordance with the Egyptian Constitution, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ratified by Egypt, the ‘Human Rights Defenders Declaration’ (adopted by the UN on 9 December, 1998) and in the spirit of the Barcelona Declaration to which Egypt has committed herself. * However, the Court did rule on the constitutionality of the articles in this regard. EMHRN and FIDH |
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