JORDAN'S KING ENDORSES ASSOCIATIONS LAW

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 002195

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/16/2019
TAGS: PGOV KDEM JO
SUBJECT: JORDAN'S KING ENDORSES ASSOCIATIONS LAW
AMENDMENTS, REGULATIONS IN THE WORKS

REF: AMMAN 1804

Classified By: Ambassador R. Stephen Beecroft
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (SBU) Summary: King Abdullah endorsed amendments to the
controversial Law on Associations on September 15. Now the
focus will shift to the Ministry of Social Development, which
is set to issue two sets of regulations on implementation of
the law. The first tranche of regulations will create a
Registrar of Societies to oversee NGO operations and
administer a government support fund. The second tranche, to
be written in consultation with the Registrar, will spell out
the operational procedures for registration and oversight of
NGOs in Jordan. End Summary.

Amendments Approved
--------------


2. (SBU) King Abdullah endorsed amendments to the
controversial Law on Associations on September 15, and they
appeared in the official gazette on September 16 without any
of the usual accompanying publicity. The amendments, which
passed through the parliament just before its summer
extraordinary session was ended early by royal decree,
represent a partial improvement on the burdensome
restrictions which were placed on civil society by the 2008
version of the law (Ref A). MPs in the lower house, however,
rejected the government's position that foreign funding for
NGOs should be approved by the Minister of Social Development
rather than the cabinet as a whole. They retained cabinet
approval for foreign funding and added another potentially
problematic provision which prohibits non-Muslim charities
other than Christian organizations from operating in the
Kingdom. Despite the Senate's contention that the latter was
unconstitutional, it voted to approve the change anyway in
the interest of expediency.

Creating the Registrar
--------------


3. (SBU) The amendments transferred a great deal of
regulatory oversight authority over NGOs from the Minister of
Social Development to a newly created Registrar of Societies.
The Registrar of Societies, along with its advisory board of
NGO representatives and government officials, will play a
large role in crafting the implementing regulations. Yet
before the registrar can meet, the Ministry of Social
Development must craft a separate set of regulations that
dictate the mode of appointment or election for NGO
representatives and outline the organizational structure of
the Registrar. An initial set of implementing regulations to
create the Registrar of Societies and its advisory board are
being drawn up in the ministry. Contacts say that they will
likely be ready to send to the Legislative and Opinion Bureau
for legal clearance in October.


4. (C) No names have so far been floated as possible
candidates for the Registrar position. The Secretary General
of the ministry has been designated as the interim Registrar
until a permanent staffer can be found. There is some concern
among NGOs that the Ministry of Social Development will
appoint Amin Mashaqbe, current head of the General Union of
Voluntary Societies, a government-organized association which
distributes public money to local charities. Mashaqbe
actively campaigned against amending the 2008 law, arguing
that the government needed to maintain maximum flexibility to
act against Islamist organizations. He is seen within the
NGO community as a proxy for security-minded conservatives in
the government.

Registration Deadline Likely to Slip
--------------


5. (SBU) The 2008 Law on Associations had originally set
December 15, 2009 as the deadline for civil society
organizations to register with the Ministry of Social
Development or transfer their registration from other
ministries. Now that the amendment package has altered the
procedure for registration, contacts within the ministry tell
us that this deadline is likely to slip by a year or more
once the new regulations are published. For now, civil
society is watching and waiting to see how the regulatory
process pans out.
Beecroft