Amnesty International urges Bangladesh to repeal foreign donations regulation law

Amnesty International has asked the government to repeal the new foreign donations regulation law as it believes it is designed to “stifle civil society” in Bangladesh.

Parliament passed the bill on Oct 4, and the president gave his final approval to the law on Oct 13.

The UK-based rights group is the latest in the recent outcry against the law which has been enacted with one of the major aims to combat foreign financing to terrorism.

Amnesty believes the law could have “a negative impact” on the rights to freedom of expression and association.

“The law would not only hinder the ability of human rights defenders and civil society organizations to seek and secure resources but it would also expand the government’s ability to unlawfully interfere with their work and arbitrarily cancel their registrations,” it said in a statement.

The law requires all foreign-funded NGOs to submit all projects for approval to the NGO Affairs Bureau, which is run from the Prime Minister’s Office.

“The bill is vaguely worded and does not specify on which grounds the Bureau could reject or make changes to proposed projects,” Amnesty said.

“This gives the authorities wide discretion to interfere with the work of NGOs and cancel projects they do not agree with.”

It is also “hugely concerning” that in the final version of the Bill passed by Parliament, an additional provision had been added which makes it an offence for NGOs to make “inimical” or “derogatory” remarks against the constitution or a constitutional body.

Under the Bill, the NGO Bureau is given the power to cancel the registration of NGOs that make such remarks.

The words “inimical” or “derogatory” are not defined anywhere in the bill, and this “vagueness” could give the authorities sweeping powers to punish NGOs simply for exercising their right to freedom of expression and criticising government bodies, Amnesty said.

Amnesty believes that the ability of civil society organizations to access funding, including from domestic and foreign sources, is an “integral” part of the right to freedom of association.

The European Union, earlier, also expressed its concern over the new law.

The head of the delegation in Dhaka, Ambassador Pierre Mayaudon, said they would now engage in dialogue with the government when it will make the rules relating to implementation.