New law from two ordinances on NGOs on the anvil

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S M Jahangir
A move is underway to enact a new law by unifying the two existing age-old ordinances to strengthen the regulatory control on the foreign-aided NGOs working in Bnagladesh, sources said.
"A plan is underway to formulate a new act to make the regulatory process on foreign funds more effective and time-befitting for NGOs (non-governmental organisations)," a concerned official told the FE.
The proposed law will be made by unifying the existing two laws - The Foreign Donations (Voluntary Activities) Regulation Ordinance 1978 and the Foreign Contributions (Regulation) Ordinance 1982, said the official.
The proposed new act will be aimed at ensuring more transparency and accountability both in receipt and utilisation of the external funds by the NGOs concerned.
One of the objectives of framing such a new law, according to sources, is to help prevent terror financing and other financial irregularities, amid growing allegations that some of the NGOs are engaged in terror financing.
"The current move on framing a new law has been initiated, as the existing ordinances are not sufficient enough in the present global perspective," said an official.
The NGO Affairs Bureau finds itself in a difficult situation in dealing with the irregularities in transfer of the foreign funds or donations," sources said.
Another important objective of enacting the new law is to see whether the external funds received by the local NGOs are used accordingly, said the officials.
Referring to the existing Foreign Donations (Voluntary Activities) Regulation Ordinance 1978, the NGO Affairs Bureau sources said it is expedient to regulate receipt and expenditure of foreign donations for voluntary activities.
Under the ordinance, a person or organisation receiving or using any foreign donation for the purpose of voluntary activities must register himself or itself with an authority and in a manner as is specified by the government, they mentioned.
On the other hand, the Foreign Contributions (Regulation) Ordinance 1982 is aimed at regulating receipt of foreign contributions.
Under the ordinance, no citizen or organisation of Bangladesh can receive any foreign contribution without prior approval of the government.
Besides, no government, organisation or citizen of a foreign state is able to make any donation, grant or assistance, be it cash or in kind, including ticket for journey abroad, to any citizen or organisation of Bangladesh without the prior approval of the government.
"Since the purposes of both the ordinances are almost identical, the authorities are considering enactment of a fresh law, uniying these two existing ordinances," said an official.
Several years back, the authorities undertook an initiative to bring about a major change in the existing Foreign Donations (Voluntary Activities) Regulation Ordinance 1978 but it could not be accomplished due to multifarious reasons including some procedural complexities.
At present, some 2,373 NGOs - 2156 local and 217 foreign - have so far registered with the NGO Affairs Bureau, official sources said.