• To consider some concerns & observations sent by foreign diplomatic missions

In response to claims that the United States’ (US) State Department is seeking to get involved in the process of the drafting of the new law concerning non-governmental organisations (NGO), the National Secretariat for NGOs stressed that there is no such involvement, and that the US has merely provided its feedback regarding the law.

Secretariat’s Director General (DG), Sanjeewa Wimalagunarathna, explained: “When we shared the draft of the law with civil society organisations (CSOs), they have subsequently shared it with foreign diplomatic missions based in Sri Lanka. Thereafter, they (the foreign diplomatic missions based locally) communicated to us their concerns regarding the law, requesting us to pay attention to those matters.” 

He told The Daily Morning that of those concerns, there are certain matters that can be taken into account and will receive the authorities’ attention, while some cannot be taken into account: “This cannot be interpreted as them getting involved in this process, as they are merely sending their observations. It is up to us to decide whether to take them into consideration,” Wimalagunarathna opined.

These claims about the US’ alleged involvement concerning the new law come in a context where the US State Department recently said in a statement that during the US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Donald Lu’s recent visit to Sri Lanka, he will reaffirm the importance of a robust civil society as a cornerstone of a free and democratic society.

If enacted, the proposed law, i.e. the NGOs (Registration and Supervision) Act of 2024, which is currently in the process of being finalised, will repeal and replace the Voluntary Social Service Organisations (Registration and Supervision) Act, No. 31 of 1980 as amended. The Bill has attracted widespread criticism, especially from CSOs and rights activists, as they fear that this law would be used to curtail the freedoms available to them and would pave the way for the governmental authorities to unjustifiably interfere with their work. The lack of a meaningful consultative process in the formation of the Bill has been criticised by activists. Recently, representatives of CSOs met with President and National Policies Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to express their concerns regarding the Bill.