“Following Egypt ’s historic protests calling for basic political freedom, it is deeply disturbing that the Egyptian military has targeted Egypt ’s democracy and human rights community in ways not even dared during Mubarak’s despotic rule,” wrote Stephen McInerney, executive director of the Washington-based Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED).
The first parliamentary elections since Mubarak’s fall are scheduled for Nov 28, but NGO leaders say the transitional government led by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) has mounted a “smear campaign” against them by accusing them of receiving millions of dollars from foreign donors to destabilize the country -- going so far as to say the violence on the streets of Cairo during and after the revolution was supported by foreign funding channelled through NGOs.
Many of the local organisations being targeted intended to monitor the upcoming elections, but have been prevented from doing so by the Electoral Commission. The SCAF has already banned foreign groups from monitoring the vote.
“This (smear campaign) is yet another episode in the suffering of NGOs in this country,” Maged Adeeb, the chairman of local NGO National Centre for Human Rights, told IRIN (www.irinnews.org).
“By accusing us of receiving funds and using them in weakening Egypt
In a recent conference in Cairo
Egypt’s law 84/2002 does not prevent NGOs from getting funding from abroad, but requires them to register with the government and all funding to be approved by the Ministry of Social Solidarity. Last year, the government introduced a bill in parliament (it later became law) which further restricted NGOs and gave state security the power to approve or deny international funding to NGOs.
Ominous signs began in June, when US Ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson said the US had spent USD 40 million in Egypt
The government said none of the registered NGOs had informed it about any funds they received in this regard. In July, Minister of International Cooperation Faiza Abul-Naga announced an investigation into foreign funding of unregistered NGOs, saying such funding was considered “an intervention in our internal affairs.”
National and international organisations have received tens of millions of dollars -- one media report put it as high as USD 225 million -- in foreign funding since February.
In September, the cabinet said the government investigation found about 30 NGOs to have been illegally receiving foreign funding because they were not registered. An article in Al-Fagr newspaper named reputable NGOs like the Hisham Mubarak Law Centre, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) to be among the “illegal” entities.
According to POMED’s McInerney, many of them had registered instead as civil corporations, law firms or other legal entities which are supervised by less intrusive government ministries and laws.
Minister of Justice Mohamed Abdel Aziz al-Guindi has said these organisations face charges of treason for conspiring against the country by sending sensitive information to foreign parties.
Civil society activists like Adeeb say the government has put their funding under the microscope by asking Central Bank officials to reveal their bank dealings to see whether they match financial statements presented to the government.
On Oct 9, the Justice Ministry summoned five civil society activists and accused them of using foreign funding to foment violence during the revolution.
“Agencies like ours have always been a thorn in the back of dictatorial governments,” said Emad Abdel Qawy, the head of local NGO Justice and Citizenship, which works in the south of Egypt
The government however says NGOs need to be more transparent about the funds they receive.
“I cannot understand why civil society activists should be worried when the government asks about funding,” Social Solidarity Minister Gouda
It is not only civil society activists who are worried. The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network, an international network of human rights groups, on Oct 9 sent a delegation to Cairo Egypt
Human Rights Watch has also condemned the government’s moves against NGOs and called for it to close “treason” investigations right away.
Even so, the government’s campaign against NGOs seems to have changed the way ordinary Egyptians view civil society. Activists talk about people who approach them not asking about their development programmes or their political awareness campaigns, but about where they get their funding.
“This has become a very common question these days,” said Emad Abdel Qawy, the head of the Minya-based Justice and Citizenship Society. “The funny thing is that none of these ordinary citizens had asked about this funding before.”
A few days ago, Abdel Qawy narrowly escaped an attack in the southern governorate of Qena by some people who called him “traitor” and a “paid agent”. He had gone with other activists to present a theatrical show on the importance of political participation when a group of people stormed into the theatre and beat them with sticks.
There are around 30,000 NGOs in Egypt
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