International NGOs operate normally in Egypt: Gov't

CAIRO – 10 October 2018: Work licenses for international NGOs operating in Egypt are only valid for three to five years, according to the Ministry of Social Solidarity.

In a statement issued by Egypt’s Cabinet, it was affirmed that all NGOs in Egypt have been banned from working; however, some of them stopped their activities until they update their work licenses.

According to the statement, the Social Solidarity Ministry explained to the government that all the rumors that circulated regarding banning some of the international NGOs from working in Egypt are incorrect, stressing that the government and the Social Solidarity Ministry did not hinder the organizations' activities in any way.

Nearly 90 international NGOs are operating normally since their establishment in the 1950s, the statement read.

In May 2017, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi ratified a law regulating the work of civil society organizations in the country. The law sees the creation of a new body called the National Authority to Regulate NGOs Operations.

The new NGO Law states that the governmental authority has to complete the documentation procedure with the new association within a maximum period of 16 days and also mandates that the government must first approve any kind of foreign funding that shall be presented to any Egyptian NGO.

It also allows foreign communities living in Egypt to establish their own bond or association as a foreign NGO, to defend the community’s interests and offer not-for-profit services to the members of the community.

A total of 16 defendants, out of 43 Egyptian and foreign workers, were sentenced in June 2013 to prison sentences between one and five years in the case dubbed in the media as the “Foreign Funding” case. A number of human rights activists have appealed against the sentences at the Court of Cassation.

The ruling had been overturned by Egypt's Court of Cassation in April 2018.
As per the investigations, the sentenced defendants, including 14 Egyptians and 29 Americans, Europeans and Arabs, are charged of receiving $60 million in foreign funds for human rights organizations and NGOs working in Egypt without licenses to "use it for restricted activities and in violation of the state's policy."