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