FNs uafhængige rapportørkorps i alarm over lovforslag i parlamentet i Nairobi, som vil lægge strikse bånd på landets frie foreningsliv, bl.a. ved at sætte loft over den tilladte støtte fra udlandet og tvinge donorpengene til at blive kanaliseret gennem et regeringsorgan.
GENEVA, 3 December 2013 (UN News Service): A group of independent United Nations human rights experts Tuesday urged the Kenyan Government to reject legislation that would impose severe restrictions on civil society.
The bill, which was presented to Parliament on 30 October, would amend (ændre) Kenya’s Public Benefit Organization Act of 2012 and grant the Government “sweeping and potentially arbitrary (vilkårlige) powers” to deny registration for such organizations, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs), according to the experts.
“The bill is an evidence of a growing trend in Africa and elsewhere, whereby governments are trying to exert (udøve) more control over independent groups using so-called ‘NGO laws’,” the experts warned.
The bill would also cap (lægge et loft over) foreign funding at 15 per cent of their total budgets and channel all their funding through a government body, rather than going directly to beneficiary organizations.
Vil få omfattende konsekvenser
“The amendments to the regulations of associations contained in the draft law (lovforslaget) could have profound consequences for civil society organizations in Kenya, including for those involved in human rights work, and could deter (afskrække) individuals from expressing dissenting views,” stressed the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Margaret Sekaggya.
She called on Kenyan authorities to immediately suspend the legislative process of the bill, and to re-evaluate it in line with international human rights norms and standards, and urged them to further consult civil society in a meaningful way, and pay due attention to their concerns.
Rammer frihedsrettighederne
The Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Frank La Rue, noted that “the proposed amendments lack clarity and could lead to restrictive interpretations that would unduly limit the rights to freedom of association, and opinion and expression.”
The bill “opens the door to undue State interference in civil society affairs,” said the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Maina Kiai, noting that it allows a closer presidential oversight of the board commanding the associations’ regulatory body.
“The authorities should not be entitled to condition (stille betingelser fo) any decisions and activities of the associations,” he stressed, adding:
“The State should not have the capacity to ‘register and de-register’ associations as it is the case with this bill. Instead, associations should be free to determine their statutes, structure and activities and make decisions without State interference.”
Læs videre på
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=46646&Cr=non-gernmental&Cr1=#.Up4O8WV1T4s
Begynd fra: “The experts drew special attention to….”
