London, Apr 6 (ANI): Egypt's parliament is set to pass a law, which according to campaigners will severely restrict the activity of human rights groups and other non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the country.
The law, which has been condemned by both the UN and the EU, could force international NGOs to seek permission for almost every aspect of every project.
According to the Guardian, Heba Morayef, the Egypt director at Human Rights Watch (HRW), the draft law, if passed unchanged, will "make it almost impossible for international human rights organisations to operate in Egypt".
As per the law NGO and other organistaion's work would need to be authorised by a new committee that could veto any projects it believed would work against Egypt's national unity, public morals, and development goals.
Campaigners also criticised the way the law gives state security officials a leading role in the authorisation process, the paper said.
Mohamed Zaree, Egypt programme director at the Cairo Institute for Human Rights argued that the law is a back door for the security apparatus to restrict the activities of the NGOs, by not approving funds for NGOs that are going to monitor elections or the situation of human rights or torture, the paper added.
Even if the committee did not reject an NGO's activity outright, there are concerns it could still drastically slow their work through bureaucracy. (ANI)
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