TLTP
\nNEW DELHI
\nRights defenders have criticised an amendment to the Indian Foreign Contributions Act (FCRA), which oversees foreign funding to NGOs, with International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) saying it is \u201ca tool to silence\u201d civil society organisations in the South Asia nation.
\nIn a briefing paper released on Thursday, the ICJ states that the FCRA is \u201cseverely shrinking\u201d civil space in India and poses unnecessary obstacles to human rights defenders in India by \u201cunlawfully obstructing\u201d the work of NGOs in the country of 1.3 billion.
\nThe ICJ said the FCRA \u201cfails to comply with India\u2019s international legal obligations to respect and protect the rights to freedom of association, expression, peaceful assembly, and the right to take part in the conduct of public affairs\u201d. The FCRA regulates foreign donations with the aim of ensuring that such donations do not adversely affect the \u201cnational security\u201d of India.
\nOriginally enacted in 1976 with the aim to prevent foreign donations to political parties, the law has been amended to starve NGOs, particularly rights groups and environmental NGOs critical of the Hindu nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Foreign funding to political parties remains illegal in India.
\nUN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, expressed concern in October that the FCRA was being used to \u201cdeter or punish NGOs for human rights reporting and advocacy\u201d. The ICJ is concerned that the overbroad language of the FCRA law means that it can be applied in an arbitrary manner. It considers the Act as being part of a \u201cclampdown on Indian human rights defenders\u201d consisting of arbitrary arrests and other forms of harassment.
\n\u201cAll governments have a duty to prevent corruption, but financial regulation should not be used to stifle the crucial role of civil society simply because the authorities find it hard to deal with constructive criticism,\u201d Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch, told the media.
\nThe Act prohibits civil society organisations from accessing an FCRA certificate based on the prohibition on receipt of foreign funds for organisations of a \u201cpolitical nature\u201d and activities against \u201cpublic interest\u201d, \u201ceconomic interest\u201d or \u201csecurity\u201d, where these terms are not defined or defined overly broadly. On Wednesday the Indian government amended the FCRA rules making it tougher for NGOs to access foreign contributions. According to the new rules, an NGO is now prohibited from transferring funds to another NGO, Aadhaar card, the biometric ID, is mandatory for registration, and prior permission required to receive foreign funds.
\n\u201cThe new Act together with the new regulations make running a human rights organisation in India with any foreign contribution extremely difficult,\u201d Anubha Rastogi, a human lawyer based in Mumbai said. \u201cThe wording of the law ensures that the state has the power and wide discretion to interpret any activity as being political in nature\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TLTP NEW DELHI Rights defenders have criticised an amendment to the Indian Foreign Contributions Act (FCRA), which oversees foreign funding to NGOs, with International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) saying it is \u201ca tool to silence\u201d civil society organisations in the South Asia nation. In a briefing paper released on Thursday, the ICJ states that the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-156175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n