Bangladesh faces many problems, but NGOs are not one of them.
Clamping down on NGOs would be massively counter-productive and is foolish in the extreme.
Bangladesh is tremendously indebted to NGOs for its development. Clamping down on their freedom, which includes the freedom to scrutinise and critique government activities, does not bode well for the country.
The legislation, to put it bluntly, smacks of authoritarianism.
Restricting the rights of NGOs is a slippery slope, and one we cannot afford to go down if we cherish the democratic and constitutionally guaranteed freedoms of this nation.
While monitoring and regulation are desirable, and even necessary, what the Foreign Donations Regulation Bill seeks is problematic on many fronts. For example, the bill’s provision to take action against “malicious” or “derogatory” comments is too vague and open-ended.
Furthermore, it is not clear as to exactly what would constitute an offense that would be grounds for revoking an NGO’s registration.
There is also the question of why this bill would apply only to NGOs relying on foreign donations, and not local ones.
No good can from this law, and it will only hamper Bangladesh’s progress, and slow down our journey to becoming a middle-income nation anytime soon.
We urge the president to not sign off on this bill -- Bangladesh can only succeed through empowered NGOs.
This bill would take us in the opposite direction.