THE NEED TO CREATE A POSITIVE

ENVIRONMENT FOR NGOS TO ENGAGE

WITH GOVERNMENT-JEHAN PERERA
Created on 14 July 2014
The ambiguously worded directive from the governments NG !ecretariat
res"onsible for monitoring non#governmental organi$ations% and which calls on NGs
to o"erate within their mandate% has led to strong criticism from a range of actors&
These include the main o""osition "arty% the 'ar (ssociation of !ri )an*a and the
international community& The circular issued by the NG !ecretariat that was "osted
to more than 1400 NGs throughout the country stated that +,t has been revealed that
certain Non Governmental rganisations conduct "ress conferences% wor*sho"s%
trainings for -ournalists and "ress releases which is beyond their mandate& .e
reiterate that Non Governmental rganisations should "revent from such unauthori$ed
activities with immediate effect&/ This statement has led to the a""rehension that
NGs as a sector% and as a whole% are being "rohibited from conducting "ress
conferences% training -ournalists and issuing "ress releases&
The circular "ut out by the NG !ecretariat is ambiguously worded& There are two
ways in which it can be inter"reted% and the common view ta*en by the NGs and
detractors of the government is that the government meant it for the worst& They have
all been very critical of the government and voiced their condemnation of this attem"t
to restrict the freedom of e0"ression and association of civil society grou"s& The 'ar
(ssociation said the NG !ecretariat had violated the fundamental "rinci"les that
governed a free and democratic society guaranteed by the constitution and it was
com"letely militating against the rule of law "rinci"les of the country& +.e observe that
this attem"t is nothing but yet another effort to silence the alternative "ublic o"inion of
the society through inculcating fear "sychosis among the section of the society
enhancing the autocratic writ to a fearful height&1
The governments res"onse to this criticism has so far been conciliatory& 2es"onding
to 3ueries in 4arliament as to what its intentions were% 4rime 5inister 6 5 Jayaratna
said% the government was not intending to control Non#Governmental rgani$ations
7NGs8 but merely reminding them to act in accordance with the mandates they are
"ledged to& 9e also said that the letter issued was not an order but an instruction to
re3uest NGs to act within the agreed boundaries and not to engage in any other
action outside the original mandates& 6efence 5inistry s"o*esman 'rigadier 2uwan
.anigasooriya said that the NG !ecretariat % which "resently o"erates under the
6efence 5inistry% has been em"owered with regulation and administration of NGs
under an (ct of 4arliament& 9e said that the NGs should not go beyond their
ob-ectives% mission and vision as outlined by them at the "oint of registration with the
!ecretariat& 9e added that NGs can conduct "ress conferences and training for
-ournalists and wor*sho"s% if these were within their stated ob-ectives at the time of
registration with the NGs !ecretariat&
'T9 .(:!
There is a reason for the negative view being ta*en by those who have o""osed the
NG !ecretariats directive and ta*e its message negatively& 6uring the "ast several
years% there has been a steady erosion of the s"ace for inde"endent civil society
activities& NGs at large continued to obtain critical media coverage es"ecially in the
state sector media& ( training by an NG 7the local branch of Trans"arency
,nternational8 for Tamil -ournalists was sto""ed following "rotests by a mob calling
itself the +5ovement for National unity/& .hen 4olice intervention was sought
organi$ers were informed by the 4olice that the mob wanted the "rogram to be
sto""ed& The -ournalists were then ta*en to a five#star hotel in Colombo an hour away
from the original site% but the grou" was forced out from this venue too& The offices of
NGs are visited by military intelligence officers es"ecially in the North and ;ast and
3uestions are raised about the nature of their activities&
n the other hand% there a""ears to be a strong sense of insecurity within the
government that .estern countries are trying to ensure a change of regime by two
means& ne is by engineering their defeat at the national elections that are antici"ated
ne0t year& The other is by "ursuing them with an international investigation on the
grounds of war crimes& .here elections are concerned% the government a""ears to be
seeing a threat to itself through NGs that are receiving foreign funding& Government
members have referred to what ha""ened in ;gy"t and !yria and "ledge not to "ermit
this to ha""en in !ri )an*a& 'ut the com"arisons they ma*e are an overreaction as it
would "ut !ri )an*a into the same class of dictatorshi"s as ;gy"t and !yria which is
not accurate% as !ri )an*a has a "o"ularly elected government unli*e those two
countries&
The governments strong reaction to a call for "ro"osals "ut out by <!(,6 for voter
education is illustrative of the concerns of the government& <!(,6% which is the
develo"ment arm of the <! government% had "ut out an advertisement re3uesting
NGs that are interested in voter education to a""ly for funds& =oter education
"rogrammes are common in democratic countries& They are meant to im"ress on
citi$ens how im"ortant their "artici"ation at elections is% and to create awareness
amongst them about the standards of free and fair elections& 4reviously voter
education "rogrammes have been "ermitted by the government& 'ut on this occasion
the government too* u" a confrontational stance that has caused the voter education
"rogramme to be called off& ,t believed that the voter education "rogramme would be
used to "olitically undermine it&
G2.,NG ,N!;C<2,T:
The governments sense of insecurity at the "resent time would be e0acerbated by the
growing momentum of the <N#led international investigation into the last "hase of the
countrys war& The governments effort to stall this investigation at the level of the <N
has failed% even though it did garner the su""ort of very "owerful countries such as
China and 2ussia and also the 5uslim countries& 'ut the .estern countries that see*
accountability led by the <nited !tates were able to obtain the ma-ority of votes in the
<N 9uman 2ights Council% and so the international investigation that the government
tried so hard to avert is now a reality& 9aving been unable to bloc* the investigation
from ta*ing "lace internationally% the government a""ears to be trying the futile
e0ercise of limiting the flow of information from !ri )an*a to the world outside& ,ndeed%
this may also account for the circular issued to all NGs by the NG !ecretariat of the
government&
,f !ri )an*a is to be res"ected as a democracy% the government needs to recogni$e
that ma-ority rule% or having a ma-ority in 4arliament does not foreclose other o"inions
that e0ist in the society at large& The "roblem is not what the NGs do or say& The real
"roblem is with the ground realities that they see* to im"rove through their efforts and
which the government ought to be su""orting them to do& ,f they act illegally% there is
the general law that is a""licable to anyone or any entity that acts illegally% be it a
business com"any or a "olitician& Those who govern a country need to hear the
o"inions of the "eo"le and not have it filtered for them by those who are around them
and have a vested interest in *ee"ing things the way they are& This re3uires a free flow
of information% which is what NGs "rovide as they wor* directly with the "eo"le at all
levels of society and gather information which they analyse and disseminate& The
"roblem arises when the government fails to govern the country according to
democratic standards% and the international covenants it has signed% and therefore
wishes to su""ress NGs who create awareness about its failings&
The NG !ecretariat which in the "ast used to be "art of the 5inistry of !ocial
.elfare has% since the end of the war% been "laced under the 5inistry of 6efence& ,n
healthy democratic societies there is a clear line of se"aration between the military
and civilian affairs which is an intrinsic feature of the system of chec*s and balances&
9owever% in !ri )an*a this distinction has become increasingly blurred with the military
intruding into civilian affairs& ,n a time of "eace it is es"ecially ina""ro"riate for civil
society to be "laced under any sort of military control& ,nstead of viewing NGs as a
"otential security threat the government needs to see them as "art and "arcel of
democratic society and engage constructively with them& The government needs to
create a conducive environment so that NGs are also willing and ha""y to engage
with it& 9owever% at an emergency meeting of NGs convened last wee* to discuss
their res"onse to the NG !ecretariats circular% there was little or no sign of that such
an enabling environment e0isted&