23 November, 2021
KATHMANDU, Nepal
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Lumbini Province Network Nepal representing twenty-one Civil Society Organizations including JuRI Nepal on November 24 handed over a letter of memorandum to Lumbini Province government demanding to amend Association Registration Act-2075 enacted by Lumbini Province.
The memorandum was submitted to the Law, Women, Children and Senior Citizen Ministry of the province after provisions of association registration law courted controversy in the media reports. The law was promulgated without wider consultations among stakeholders. Instead, some of the provisions included in the law contradict with the Constitution and existing federal laws.
The memorandum submitted to the province government states the law largely curtails the rights of the CSO guaranteed by the Constitution and federal laws. Various organizations united under the banner of the provincial ESCR rights body have urged the government to respect the jurisdiction of the three-tier government in drafting the laws.
It states that non-governmental organizations can’t be an integral part of the government. By saying this, the memorandum states, the registration, monitoring and regulation of CSOs shouldn’t be bureaucratic, complex and lengthy. Existing law bans organizations from working in provinces other than registered provinces. If any organization registered in a province other than Lumbini province wants to work in Lumbini it should get registered with the Lumbini provincial government and with the local government as well if it intends to work at another local government.
To ease regulation of non-governmental organizations the network has suggested the government to classify the non-governmental organizations based on the nature of their working areas. Currently, all organizations ranging from sports clubs to organizations working in health and education are registered with the same government organization, so that the number of CSOs looks so high but the number of active CSOs is remarkably less. Consequently, they are largely unregulated and often their works seem to have overlapped while working in the field.
Earlier to this, ESCR National Network coordinated by JuRI-Nepal, Siddhartha Social Development Center (Secretariat of ESCR Lumbini Province Network), NGO Federation of Nepal, Human Rights Alliance and Jagaran Media Center had also urged the provincial government to amend the law by organizing consultation among stakeholders. Please click here for the full text in Nepali.