Cabinet approves draft law to regulate foreign-aided NGOs

The cabinet approved in principle Monday the draft 'Foreign Donations (Voluntary Activities) Regulation Act, 2014 to ensure transparency and accountability of the non- governmental organisations (NGOs) in the country.
"The draft law will ensure proper inspection, monitoring and evaluation of the activities of the foreign-aided NGOs in the country," cabinet secretary Mohammad Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told the media after the cabinet meeting at the conference room of the Cabinet Division on the day.
He said the proposed law will regulate the activities of foreign aided NGOs in the country. It will also ensure transparency, accountability and appropriate use of foreign donations through the NGOs.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina presided over the meeting at Bangladesh Secretariat on the day.
The cabinet secretary said the proposed law will help build partnership between the government and the NGOs for sustainable development in the country.
He said under the proposed law, political parties, judges of the Supreme Court, government and semi-government officials and employees, members of parliament (MPs) and candidates in the national and local body elections would not be eligible for taking foreign donations.
 He said no NGO could undertake any project and implement it with foreign donations without the approval from the bureau of NGO affairs.
He said as per the proposed law, no NGO will be able to perform its activity without taking registration from the NGO affairs bureau.
However, in case of any individual there is no need to be registered but has to take approval from the bureau.
Under the proposed law the NGOs must mention the source of foreign donation and its areas of utilisation to the government.
There are currently some 2303 NGOs, including 270 foreign ones in the country. Some Tk 500 billion has been released through the NGOs since 1990.
The proposed law having 22 sections has the provisions of punishments that include cancellation of registration and imposition of fines for violating the law.
Mr Bhuiyan said the tenure for the registration of an NGO will be for 10 years. The registration of the NGO could be scrapped in case of any violation of the law.
He said for violation of the law, the first step will be issuance of warning and then scrapping the registration and finally imposing fine.
He said that criminal procedure will be followed in case of financing or patronising terrorism and militant activities, women and child trafficking and drug smuggling.
The cabinet also approved the draft 'National Insurance Policy, 2014 aiming to ensure further development of the country's insurance sector.
"The policy will act as a guideline for the country's insurance sector aiming to make commercially viable the state-run insurance companies," the cabinet secretary said.
He said the policy will further strengthen the Insurance Development Regulatory Authority (IDRA) and improve the standard of services of the insurance companies through using the information and communication technology (ICT).
Besides, it will ensure human resource development through introducing group insurance in different organisations.
"The policy will help create insurance awareness, launching board of ethics, best practice award, Islamic insurance, pension scheme at the private sector as well as introducing National Insurance Day," Mr Bhuiyan said.
The cabinet also approved the proposal for signing an agreement for promotion and reciprocal protection of investment with Cambodia.
The prime minister of Cambodia Hun Sen will visit Bangladesh on June 16-18, 2014. An agreement will be signed between the two countries to boost bilateral trade and investment during his visit in the country.
The cabinet was apprised of the visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to Japan on May 25-28, 2014 and participation of industries minister on the placement  of evaluation report on Bangladesh's investment policy at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) headquarters in Switzerland on April 29, 2014.
It was also apprised of the visit of civil aviation and tourism minister in UK on February 28-March 8, 2014 and the participation of high-level Bangladesh delegation at the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Spring Meeting at Washington DC on April 11-13, 2014 and at the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation held in Mexico City on April 15-16.