DUSHANBE, July 22, 2015, Asia-Plus — The main objective of amendments made to the country’s law on public associations is not in restricting local NGOs’ activities or violating their rights but in ensuring transparency of spending of money, providing security of state, and preventing financial crime, terrorism and money laundering, Tajik Minister of Justice Rustam Shohmurod told reporters in Dushanbe on July 22.
“Amount received by local public associations from foreign sources in 2013 alone is estimated at 4.5 billion somoni (TJS),” said the minister. “According to the NGOs reports, major part of that amount was sent to the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) through the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF). However, there were also grants that were used for political goals.”
According to him, the law on public associations will be adopted in the near future. “In many countries, to receive grants from foreign countries NGOS must obtain permission from the Ministry of Justice,” said Shohmurod. “But we did not include such a requirement into our law on public associations at the request of local NGOs. They just have to submit reports on what for a grant is used and so forth.”
We will recall that members of Tajikistan’s lower house (Majlisi Namoyandagon) of parliament on June 10 unanimously voted for amendments proposed to the country’s law on public associations by the government. The amendments provide for tightening control over foreign grants awarded to local NGOs.
Non-governmental organizations in Tajikistan expressed concern about new legislation that restricts their access to foreign grants in November last year. Participants at an international conference in Dushanbe said on November 18 that according to legal amendments recently adopted by a parliament, NGOs in Tajikistan will only be able to receive grants from foreign entities if they have approval from the government. They noted that the change would have substantial effects on the activity of NGOs and would probably force some of them to close.
On November 26, more than 90 NGOs from Tajikistan and other countries have signed the appeal, calling on the government of Tajikistan to drop this draft legislation and to respect the right of NGOs to have unhindered access to funding for their work, including from sources abroad.
