New NGO law regulates foreign funds not bans them: MP

CAIRO – 31 May 2017: President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi approved the new NGO law, after it was ratified by the House of Representatives last November following several months of discussions and studying.

The Egyptian Parliament arranged several discussion sessions to reach the final version of the law. The lawmakers listened to legal experts and statesmen, in order to reach a national consensus.

The new law will confront illegal activities used to be practiced by outlawed groups because it legalizes the status of all patriotic organizations, head of the Parliament’s Social Solidarity Committee Abdel Hady al-Qasaby said.

Qasaby, demonstrated that the new law differentiates between legitimate patriotic groups from the ones that are not.

The new law is a real democratic step that shall maintain the relationship between the state and the civil society, said Dalia Zeyada Director of Egyptian Center for Democratic Studies to local media.

She welcomed the approval of the new NGO law, approved by President Sisi in May 2017.

“Non-governmental organizations that have not legalized their status should register themselves according to the new law’s executive regulation within one year,” Zeyada added.

Heba Hagras, member of the Parliament’s Social Solidarity Committee, asserted that the Parliament took a long time for studying and discussing the NGO law due to many procedural considerations. She denied that the President had modified any of the law’s articles ratified by the Parliament last November.

Hagras, told local media outlets that the new law did not hinder foreign funds given to social groups, but it regulates and legalizes the way these groups receive the funds.

Mohamed Abo Hamed, member of the Parliament, told Egypt Today that the new law empowers the social and non-governmental groups, in order for them to work efficiently and contribute to enhancing the country’s democratic process and support the needy social classes.