Parliament has not yet sent NGO law to president: Minister

The new law regulating NGOs has not yet been sent by parliament to the president for ratification, the minister of parliamentary affairs, Magdy El-Agati, told Al-Ahram daily on Friday.

The parliament approved the new law in November. It had been drafted by the parliament’s social solidarity committee.

The government had already presented a draft law on the topic to parliament, but MPs chose to pass the legislature’s version.

Human rights activists and NGOs have strongly criticised the law, arguing that it will put civil society under the control of the state.

El-Agati told Al-Ahram that he had received a number of complaints from NGOs regarding the new law, and they had requested that parliament to discuss the law again.

“I took those complaints to the parliament to see what it can do as the government has nothing to do with that law,” he said.

El-Agati added that it was possible for the House of Representatives to discuss the approved law again.

Source: Ahram Online