Ability of associations to access financial resources as a vital part of the right to freedom of association & Ability to hold peaceful assemblies as an integral component of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly 2013, para. 28
Paragraph- Paragraph text
- For instance, in the Russian Federation, a new law adopted in July 2012 requires foreign-funded non-commercial organizations engaging in "political activities" - which is broadly defined as attempts to influence official decision-making or to shape public opinion for this objective - to register as organizations "performing the functions of foreign agents", which in Russian is synonymous with "foreign spy". The adoption of this law has been followed up by a series of audits of organizations, including prominent human rights organizations. In Egypt, the State-owned press has campaigned against civil society organizations, branding them as foreign agents due to foreign funding that some of them allegedly received. In Ethiopia, legislation not only prohibits associations working in rights-based areas from receiving more than 10 per cent of their funding from foreign sources, but also requires associations to allocate at least 70 per cent of their budget to programme activities and no more than 30 per cent to administrative costs, which are broadly defined. The enforcement of these provisions has a devastating impact on individuals' ability to form and operate associations effectively, and has been the subject of serious alarm expressed by several United Nations treaty bodies. In the same vein, a law on associations, adopted in January 2012 in Algeria, prohibits associations from receiving funding from legations and foreign non-governmental organizations, unless a "cooperative relation duly established with the foreign entity" - subject to prior authorization from the relevant authorities - is in place. Serious concerns about this legislation were notably expressed by the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression further to his mission to Algeria.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
- Paragraph type
- Other
- Reference
- SR Freedom of Assembly, Report to the HRC (2013), A/HRC/23/39, para. 28.
- Paragraph number
- 28
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