Assistant Secretary Kramer, Minister of Justice Review NGO

UNCLAS ABU DHABI 001187 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PREL KMPI JO SUBJECT: Assistant Secretary Kramer, Minister of Justice Review NGO Law ¶1. (SBU) Summary: A/S Kramer met on the margins of the BMENA Forum for the Future in Abu Dhabi with Jordanian Minister of Justice Ayman Odeh and Jordanian Ambassador to UAE. The Minister solicited and responded to DRL's concerns about the new Jordanian NGO law, and suggested possible ways to alleviate those concerns to ensure that the law would not block NGO funding from the United States, EU, and other friendly sources, while satisfying Jordanian concerns about being able to monitor funds from less welcome donors. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) A/S Kramer advised the Minister that DRL, NEA, and S/P are consulting with the GOJ to set dates for a possible November visit to Amman to start dialogue on human rights and democracy assistance under the U.S.-Jordan Memorandum of Understanding, and he noted the USG has some concerns about three aspects of the law in its current version: Restrictions on foreign funding; excessive government discretion over the regulation, oversight, and possible dissolution of civil society organizations; and the requirement to disclose organization members' names and board members' names. He urged that civil society in Jordan have a significant role in putting forth proposed amendments to the law. (Note: The Minister said he hopes any amendments to the law will be in place by the first half of 2009, and said he intends to discuss the timing with the Prime Minister. End note.) ¶3. (SBU) The Minister defended the new law as better by far than the old one, but admitted the new version may not be up to some people's expectations. He said that with the large refugee presence in Jordan and unwelcome overtures from some other countries in the region, Jordan cannot open the way for foreign funding without any restrictions. He clarified that domestic funding will have to be reported to the government but would not be subject to prior government approval. According to the Minister, the current law requires foreign funding proposals to be submitted for advance approval to the Council of Ministers; if the CoM does not reply within 30 days, the request is considered approved, whereas under the previous law, there was no such time limit. The Minister said he would prefer for the amended law to establish general CoM guidelines for such requests and place the decision with the relevant ministry, to streamline the approval process; or as a second choice, for the CoM to make the decision subject to established guidelines. He suggested it might be possible to write the guidelines such that funding from the USG, EU, and a few other friendly donors would be subject to automatic acceptance upon submission to the relevant ministry or CoM. He added that the financial reporting requirement for donors thus identified could be set up as an annual report declaring funds received but not detailing every transaction. ¶4. (SBU) A/S Kramer commented that such provisions could be helpful in softening the impact of the law. He agreed that annual financial reports would be less of a burden for donors than providing initial notification to the GOJ. When he asked about the government's discretion to dissolve civil society organizations, the Minister countered that the new law actually makes dissolution more difficult than did the previous law. He said there is no possibility the dissolution authority could be excised from the new law, but that the power would be invoked only in very specific cases, such as an organization's failure to elect a board of directors. He also stated that dissolution of an NGO would be a CoM rather than a ministerial decision, and that it could be challenged in court. He and the Jordanian Ambassador asserted that a civil society group would only be dissolved for "organizational reasons" and only to protect the assets under that group's control. ¶5. (SBU) A/S Kramer pointed out that the requirement to provide the government with the names of organization members and board members would have a chilling effect if people were concerned about how the government might use the information, so it would be preferable for groups to keep their own membership records without submitting them to the government. The Minister responded, "We will see what we can do on that." A/S Kramer reiterated that the recently signed U.S.-Jordan MOU is a meaningful step forward and a symbol of strong U.S.-Jordan relations, and that the USG was expressing concern about the NGO law in the context of that relationship. ¶6. (SBU) Comment: The Minister made it clear that the law has some redlines that cannot be omitted, but seemed willing to think creatively about how to keep funding channels open, especially in the context of new support coming to Jordan under the MOU. DRL and NEA have closely followed Embassy Amman's reporting on advocacy for revising the NGO law. We remain concerned that the GOJ, as the Minister stated, intends to allow the unamended law to come into effect, and will seek to issue only modified regulations that will temper but not fully address the concerns we have repeatedly pointed out. The GOJ should expect that this will figure into a large part of our interaction under the new Human Rights dialogue, if the law has not been amended in advance. The Department will consult with civil society organizations to get further reactions and input. End comment. Olson