CARACAS.- The special rapporteur for the United Nations on freedom of association and peaceful assembly, Clement Voule, called for an inclusive public consultation of the ley that regulates the ONG in Venezuelawhich prepares the National Assembly Chavista, and which is the subject of questioning by the sector.
Voule said on the social network AN “on public consultations on the draft law on ONG” and urged “the authorities to ensure inclusive consultations, guaranteeing the safe and meaningful participation of civil society,” reported the website Effect Cocuyo.
Likewise, Voule recalled that the Venezuelan authorities are obliged to guarantee the functioning of the ONG without limitations and as established by the right of association.
“I recall the government’s obligation to guarantee the free functioning of NGOs in the exercise of their activities, without undue limitations on the right of association,” added the UN rapporteur.
The Chavista National Assembly (AN) announced that it will submit to public consultation the questioned bill to supervise and regulate the operation of the ONG in the country and which is widely rejected by these organizations who consider that it will deepen authoritarianism in the South American nation.
The project of Law on Supervision, Regularization, Performance and Financing of Non-Governmental and Related Organizations It was already approved in the first discussion on January 23, 2023.
The legal regulations have been strongly criticized by NGOs who warn that if approved and come into force it would contribute to the closure of civic space in Venezuela, in addition to having the objective of “criminalizing” NGOs.
According to the bill, NGOs will be prohibited from receiving contributions intended for organizations with political purposes, carrying out political activities, promoting or allowing actions that, according to the regime, threaten national stability and the institutions of the Republic.
“Prohibiting the carrying out of ‘political activities’, and preventing ‘actions that threaten national stability’, are two dangerous concepts that threaten the rights to association and participation,” warned the NGO Provea shortly after the approval of the project in first discussion.
The project contemplates fines of up to $12,000 for NGOs that are not registered in the Unified Registry of Obligated Subjects before the National Office Against Organized Crime and Financing of Terrorism, a “control” entity. Likewise, it obliges NGOs to declare the identity and origin of the donations they receive.
It is “an unconstitutional act, of legal overreach and serious breach of international standards for the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms,” declared Provea. And he added that the Venezuelan authorities are deepening “their policy of criminalization, persecution and eventual suspension and illegalization of autonomous and independent civil society organizations.”
Likewise, he warned that the support provided by different social, humanitarian and human rights organizations in Venezuela will be diminished by the effects of the law.
Source: EDITORIAL / With information from Cocuyo Effect
