Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09AMMAN450
2009-02-18 13:17:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Amman
Cable title:  

COMPROMISE ASSOCIATIONS LAW AMENDMENTS INCHING

Tags:  PGOV KDEM JO 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO5568
RR RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHKUK RUEHROV
DE RUEHAM #0450/01 0491317
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 181317Z FEB 09
FM AMEMBASSY AMMAN
TO RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORP
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4486
INFO RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 AMMAN 000450 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/09/2019
TAGS: PGOV KDEM JO
SUBJECT: COMPROMISE ASSOCIATIONS LAW AMENDMENTS INCHING
FORWARD

REF: A. AMMAN 343

B. 08 AMMAN 2701

C. 08 AMMAN 1834

AMMAN 00000450 001.2 OF 003


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

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 AMMAN 000450

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/09/2019
TAGS: PGOV KDEM JO
SUBJECT: COMPROMISE ASSOCIATIONS LAW AMENDMENTS INCHING
FORWARD

REF: A. AMMAN 343

B. 08 AMMAN 2701

C. 08 AMMAN 1834

AMMAN 00000450 001.2 OF 003


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


1. (C) Summary: Following an extended period of
negotiation, amendments to Jordan's Law on Associations are
beginning to move forward. After a February 1 meeting with
civil society representatives, Minister of Social Development
Hala Lattouf has indicated she will submit the amendments for
cabinet approval after which they would be sent to
parliament. Lattouf believes that the amendments could be
altered or defeated in parliament, although the Prime
Minister and Justice Minister have told Ambassador they
expect them to pass during an extraordinary session this
summer. The amendments offer significant improvements to the
July 2008 law, although some changes represent compromises
with security-minded government officials. One amendment
bars charities or any other NGO from pursuing "political or
religious aims." Civil society got some of what it wanted in
the amendments, which may face a difficult test in
parliament. End Summary.

Amendments Inching Forward
--------------


2. (C) On February 1, Minister of Social Development Hala
Lattouf met with a small group of civil society
representatives who have been advising her on amendments to
the controversial Associations Law. Lattouf presented the
group with amendments she crafted based on civil society
feedback and her consultations with reform-minded ministers.
Her initial hope was to send the amendments to parliament
before its ordinary session ended February 4, but a crunch of
last minute bills with higher priority ended up bumping them
from the legislative calendar.


3. (C) Lattouf gave civil society about a week to respond
with any last-minute suggestions and comments before she
forwarding the law to the Legislative and Opinion Bureau for
vetting. After the amendments are examined for
constitutionality and potential conflicts with existing law,
they would advance to the cabinet and if approved would
likely appear before an extraordinary session of parliament
expected this summer.

Tough Road Ahead
--------------


4. (C) Lattouf confided to USAID staff that parliament may

try to change the content of the amendments (as happened with
the 2008 law) or defeat them outright. She explained that
the amendments may not enjoy the confidence of the full
government and would therefore face challenges from lawmakers
allied to security-minded conservatives in the cabinet. The
Prime Minister and Justice Minister, however, have
subsequently told Ambassador they expect the amendments to
pass during an extraordinary session this summer. MPs shared
with poloff some of their concerns. Legal Committee Chair
Mubarak Abbadi said that while he "respects the opinion of
the King" on expanding the political space for NGOs, he
believes that security concerns are paramount. Abbadi points
out (as many of our contacts do) that Jordan's Islamists have
a long history of using loopholes in government regulation to
their advantage. It is rumored that the government may
circumvent parliament altogether by implementing the
amendments directly as a provisional law (Ref C).


5. (C) Our civil society contacts are more optimistic,
believing that international pressure will ultimately result
in constructive change. While there are some who think the
package does not go far enough, the majority see the
amendments as the best compromise possible at this point,
given the relative weakness of the Minister of Social
Development in comparison to her more powerful counterparts
at the Ministry of Interior and the General Intelligence
Directorate. Asem Rababa, head of the Adaleh Center for
Human Rights, told poloff that while civil society wanted
more from the amendment process, he was generally satisfied
that the changes represent a positive correction to the 2008
law. Al-Urdun Al-Jadid Research Center Director Hani Hourani
called the amendments a "good step" but warned that
parliament was a daunting obstacle.

The Amendments
--------------


6. (SBU) Following the passage of the revised Associations
Law in 2008, the government asked civil society to produce

AMMAN 00000450 002.2 OF 003


suggested amendments. After a great deal of debate, civil
society leaders returned with eight areas for improvement:
the registration process, freedom of operation, funding,
oversight, managerial questions, government support,
penalties, and tax exemptions. Those suggestions were later
prioritized and whittled down. Of the original eight
suggestions, four were dealt with in the current amendment
package: registration, government support, funding, and
penalties. The following is a summary of the amendments as
presented to civil society by Lattouf:

-- Definitions: Much of the text of the amendments is
devoted to defining responsibility. Where the law references
a "relevant minister" as the source of oversight over NGOs,
the amendments assign most oversight powers to a registrar in
the Ministry of Social Development. Under the old law, NGOs
sought out the ministry whose regulatory requirements were
the least burdensome.

-- "Religious or Political Aims": In a bid to satisfy
security-oriented conservatives worried about expansion of
Muslim Brotherhood influence, the amendments specifically bar
charities or any other NGO from pursuing "political or
religious aims" -- a vague formulation which is not further
clarified. Religious organizations must obtain the
permission of the registrar before launching any new type of
service provision, and the board is responsible for
monitoring those services to make sure that they remain
compliant with the law. Existing services provided by
religious organizations are grandfathered into the law's
requirements, but the registrar is given the power to issue
regulations to bring those service providers into full
compliance at a later date.

-- Registration and Government Support: Under the 2008 law,
a "registrar of societies" would issue official documentation
for civil society organizations and pair them with relevant
ministries. The ministries would be responsible for
oversight of organizations' affairs and would have
significant power to intervene. The registrar's office has
no direct powers over civil society. There is little clarity
in the law about whether currently registered societies would
have to renew their paperwork to comply with the new system.
The law authorizes the creation of a government-supported
fund for NGOs to be administered by the Minister of Social
Development.

-- Registrar: In September 2008, civil society proposed the
expansion of the registrar's purview and the elimination of
direct ministerial oversight. The current draft amendments
largely fulfill that wish. The registrar would be replaced
by a joint committee of civil society representatives and
officials from various government ministries, which would
perform most oversight functions. This would give civil
society a voice in its own governance -- an improvement on
the current statute.

-- Exceptional Cases: Civil society's suggestion was also
taken on the subject of re-registration for NGOs not
currently registered with the Ministry of Social Development.
Under the proposed amendments, organizations with fewer than
eleven members are given special status and will be
grandfathered into registration requirements--a compromise
that will exempt many small charities from the burdensome
provisions of the 2008 law. The amendments also adopt civil
society's suggestion of giving the registrar, rather than the
minister, control over the government fund to support NGO
operations--a move which will allow civil society, through
its representatives on the registrar's committee, to have a
say on how the fund's money is distributed. Many
international charities which run their Iraq operations from
Amman were concerned that their operations would be
restricted or dismantled under the 2008 law, which was
unclear about their status. The amendments create a specific
loophole for these organizations, allowing them to register
with MOSD and operate freely as long as activities take place
outside of Jordan.

-- Funding: The 2008 law requires all funding from foreign
sources to be approved by the cabinet, with no standards for
approval or rejection. NGOs are required to deposit their
funds in Jordanian banks. The amendments retain the
requirement of approval for foreign funding but give
authority for that approval to the Minister of Social
Development rather than the cabinet. The amendments give the
minister thirty days to object following the receipt of
notification, after which funding transfers are automatically
approved. The amendments do not require a reason for
disapproval of foreign funding but allow civil society
organizations to challenge the minister's decision in court.
The requirement for keeping NGO money in Jordanian banks is

AMMAN 00000450 003.2 OF 003


retained in the amendments. Furthermore, NGO accounts are
specifically exempted from secrecy laws, allowing the
minister to subpoena account records for any civil society
organization suspected of financial wrongdoing.

-- Penalties: The 2008 law includes strict penalties or
prison time for civil society leaders who take foreign
funding after it is barred by the cabinet. The amendments as
written remove prison sentences, although the fines for
disobeying the law remain high. The maximum penalty for
disobeying the law remains 10,000 JD (USD 14,000),and the
minimum fine stays at 1,000 JD (USD 1,400).

Comment: A Compromise Bill
--------------


7. (C) The amendments as written are a compromise between
civil society's suggestions from September and the concerns
of Jordan's security agencies. Civil society won quite a few
significant changes, particularly where the registration
process is concerned. Inclusion of civil society
representatives within the registrar's office and the
elimination of prison sentences represent significant
movement toward civil society's position. The issue of
foreign funding is where civil society's suggestions were not
entirely adopted, although the transfer of authority over
foreign funding from the cabinet to the Minister of Social
Development represents progress. The amendment prohibiting
civil society from pursuing "religious or political aims"
seems to be a step backward but is likely to be interpreted
primarily as a bulwark against Islamists rather than civil
society as a whole.


8. (C) Now that the content of the amendments seems to be
coming together, the onus for action will shift to the
parliament. Given the experience of the 2008 law, Lattouf's
concern that parliament will alter the content of the
amendments is understandable. During the last parliamentary
go-around, lobbying efforts by Jordanian civil society groups
were hampered by internal divisions. Public criticism of the
law by Human Rights Watch only reinforced the argument of
security-oriented MPs that opposition to the law represented
foreign interference in Jordan's internal affairs.
Beecroft