Today, an EIPR representative submitted a letter to Egypt’s Minister of Social Solidarity, Nevine Al-Kabbaj, after the cabinet announced its approval of the executive by-laws for the new NGO law at the end its meeting last week. According to the law, the by-laws were supposed to be issued before mid-February 2020. 

Hereafter are some of the main issues and points raised in this letter:

• The Initiative for Studies and Consultations (publicly known as the “Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights”) is a limited liability company registered with the Egyptian General Authority for Investment in accordance with the Law on Companies to conduct research and studies; provides consultancy service; and develop and train human resources. For eighteen years, the Initiative has carried out its work in Egypt in compliance with the law and subject to Government oversight. Since it was established, the Initiative has keenly adhered to all pertinent provisions of Egyptian law.

• As attachments, the letter included official correspondence with the Ministry over several years in order to prove that the Initiative had previously, and repeatedly, applied for a license to engage in non-profit civil activities as an NGO, and that it had fulfilled all the conditions and submitted all required documents for such a registration, but it never received neither an approval nor a clear rejection from the Ministry.

• The letter stressed the Initiative’s desire to transfer all its current activities from under a limited liability company to a non-profit entity, and re-apply for registration as an NGO in accordance with the new law. 

A copy of the Arabic letter can be accessed here: https://eipr.org/sites/default/files/eipr-to-moss-0212-2020.pdf