The Sri Lankan Ministry of External Affairs has defended the recent circular, sent to NGOs, prohibiting them from engaging in certain activities.
A statement by the ministry said that the restrictions, including a ban on holding press conferences and work shops, were based on “provisions of the legal framework” of several acts.
“The aforementioned instructions, issued by the Director/Registrar of the NGO Secretariat were sent to all NGOs registered with the NGO Secretariat. As required by the related Regulations, all NGOs registered with the NGO Secretariat are liable to submit annual Action Plans containing details of the activities which would be undertaken in the forthcoming year for approval,” the statement said.
"In the event that NGOs conduct press conferences, workshops, training for journalists, and disseminate press releases, which are not connected to the activities in the approved annual Action Plan, those NGOs would be acting beyond their given mandate.”
The statement went on to accuse NGOs of breaching the regulations issued by the government.
“Unfortunately, having found some NGOs had exceeded their mandates, the Director/Registrar of the NGO Secretariat was compelled to issue the said instructions, which was a mere reiteration of the existing provisions for their smooth functioning. While as a sovereign and independent State, all Non Governmental Organizations operating in Sri Lanka are required by law to be registered, to ensure transparency and accountability, it has also been found that this is practiced in the breach.”
See below for related articles.
Government to close bank accounts of NGOs not registered with MoD (10 July 2014)
US ‘concerned’ about MoD circular restricting NGO activities (09 July 2014)
Military denies attempts to restrict NGO activities (08 July 2014)
Severe restrictions placed on NGO activities by Ministry of Defence (07 July 2014)
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