04/20/2023 - 13:38

The Jordan National NGOs Forum (JONAF) and the undersigned civil society organizations express their concern about the recent restrictions of the work of civil society organizations in Jordan, the sudden change in the mechanisms for approving foreign funding, and of the authority mandated to receive and approve applications, as well as the draft amendment to the Law on Associations. In this respect, we are issuing the following position paper:

International conventions and national legislation, especially the Jordanian Constitution and its amendments of 1952, in Article 16, stipulate that the Civil Society Organizations Law regulates the mechanism of forming civil society organizations and monitoring their resources and work. This is also reflected in the Civil Society Organizations Law No. 51 of 2008 and its amendments, which established a unified register of associations managed and supervised by an independent board called the "Board of Directors of the Register", which must be independent when it comes to the interpretation of laws presented by the legislators, and must have financial and administrative independence, and which counts, among its tasks, supervising and managing the register.

National and international reports also recommended the need to facilitate the work of civil society institutions, including the outputs of the Royal Committee to Modernize the Political System and its executive plan for the empowerment of women, which included "amendment of the Civil Society Organizations Law to ensure the facilitation of the work of civil society institutions", as well as reports issued by the National Center for Human Rights, which recommended that "the work of civil society organizations be supervised by an independent body that includes official representatives and others from civil society institutions".

At the same time, the Economic and Social Council recommended in more than one report on the status of the country the need to "work to build a national coordination framework that brings together civil society organizations", while the eighth recommendation of the Global Financial Action Task Force is to preserve the integrity of civil society organizations and protect them from the risks of money laundering and terrorist financing, which requires the monitoring and evaluation of civil society organizations in ways other than the traditional ones.

The repeated outputs of the committees tasked with amending the Law on Associations have repeatedly called for the creation of a single independent reference body specialized in the registration, follow-up, monitoring, and supervision of the work of civil

society organizations, developing governance policies for them, enabling and regulating initiatives, addressing the mechanisms approving foreign funding and its subsequent monitoring under the law, unifying the reference of government support, and using information and communication technology as a means of dealing with civil society organizations instead of the debilitating bureaucracy witnessed at relevant ministries.

The increase in the number of civil society institutions, which reached 6,612 associations, 1,400 non-profit companies, 1,500 cooperative societies, and 250 branches of foreign associations, requires the presence of a single reference body specialized in follow-up, monitoring, and evaluation, given the complexity of the work of these institutions and the dynamics of their required rapid response. The sector employs thousands of Jordanians, provides services to hundreds of thousands in several vital and developmental sectors such as education, health, and emergency relief, and represents and amplifies the voices of the communities in which these institutions operate, and organizes their civil work, making it more institutionalized and professional, acting as a link with the official authorities to agree on the required agendas on development and societal and human security, and exerting efforts to ensure the preservation of human rights for all segments of society.

The increase in the number of civil society organizations of various classifications has had a significant impact on the roles of the ministries supervising the works of these organizations, which could be attributed to several factors, including legislative, regulatory, administrative, and human, in addition to the recent handover of the foreign funding file to the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation, which monitors projects and exerts control over civil society organizations, despite its lack of legal competence to do so and the lack of a legal basis that grants it such powers, which stands in violation of Articles 17, 6, 5 of the Law on Associations, and creates confusion as a result of the sudden change that we have witnessed in the past months.

Based on the above, we, the undersigned civil society organizations, urgently call for reviewing the Law on Associations and working on amending it in line with the recommendations of the Royal Committee to Modernize the Political System, as well as the national requirements and international standards, to develop a draft law that is agreed upon, taking into account the recommendations of civil society, among which:

Amendments should be substantial, to facilitate the work of civil society organizations, as well as address all the provisions contained in the current legislation that obstruct and restrict the work of civil society organizations.
Unify all references, which means unifying procedures by creating a single reference body that is financially and administratively independent, fully

authorized to deal with the affairs of civil society organizations and non-profit institutions, in terms of registration, supervision, approvals of all kinds, mechanisms for obtaining foreign funding, and everything else related to civil society organizations, with the convening of the competent authority for approvals permanently.

Bring the mechanisms for obtaining foreign funding approvals in line with international standards, and facilitate the mechanisms for obtaining funding without delay or complications.
The amendments and oversight mechanisms should contribute to raising the capabilities of civil society, strengthening and supporting it, enabling it to play its real role in contributing to the development of society and the prosperity of the country, instead of restricting, alienating, and marginalizing it.
The new amendments should create a classification of associations on specific and informed bases and criteria, which would support specialization in their work in approved sectors.
Review all legislation related to the work of civil society organizations, including making the power of dissolution and closure subject to judicial decisions.

Names of civil society organizations: