CAIRO — Humanitarian organizations around the world have long criticized Egypt’s regulation of nongovernmental organizations. But now a bill is headed for parliament that, depending on who is asked, could either improve the current situation or make it even more restrictive.
The Social Solidarity Ministry issued the bill. Khaled Sultan, chief of the ministry’s Central Administration of NGOs, told Al-Monitor the bill was drafted after discussions with 566 human rights organizations. The legislation includes proposals from those groups, but reserves the government’s right “to supervise and control the work of civil society organizations and follow up on their funding sources and methods of spending,” he said.