Myanmar: Analysis of the Organisation Registration Law Reporting Requirements, Oversight and Inspection Powers NGOs must submit an activities report every three months to the township GAD administrator. They must also submit an annual financial report which, for national or regional NGOs, must be reviewed by a certified accountant. Some oversight processes for NGOs in the NGO Law are not clear and also lack clear procedures such that it is not even clear whether they represent distinct procedures, such as: • • Registration boards are supposed to assign a government department to screen NGOs at registration and review complaints about an organisation. The government entity that issues a recommendation letter for the NGO or signs a MOU is supposed to report to the registration board on whether an NGO is complying with the rules, triggering a review of NGOs activities by the registration board. The registration board, government department assigned to the NGO and GAD may all inspect an NGO, review documents and make inquiries of the NGO. NGOs must also obtain approval for basic operational decisions like changing their name, address, executive member or objectives and activities. Under international law, reporting requirements should not be burdensome. Quarterly activity reports are unnecessary and do not serve a legitimate regulatory purpose. Full audits, which are expensive, should only be required of larger organisations. Authorities should not have broad and undefined monitoring powers over NGOs. An inspection should only occur with advanced notice and be based on reasonable grounds to suspect illegal activity, while any search and seizure should be judicially authorised. The NGO Law lacks such procedural safeguards. It also fails to guarantee NGOs independence over their affairs, requiring NGOs to seek government approval for basic operational decisions. Restrictions on Activities and Advocacy NGOs cannot engage in political, religious or economic activities, even “indirectly” and are instead limited to “social activities” which are approved at registration or obtain approval for changes to those activities. NGOs also cannot operate outside the scope of their registration (so that NGOs registered in one region cannot operate in another without registering at the national level). The only exception is for natural disasters, after obtaining special permission from local administration. Special permission is also required to work in travel restricted areas. Under international law, as part of freedom of expression, NGOs have the right to participate in public policy debates and to speak on all kinds of topics. Restricting NGOs only to “social activities” is inconsistent with human rights standards. States should not try to align NGO activities with their own agenda, such as by requiring approval of planned activities. The Centre for Law and Democracy is a non-profit human rights organisation working internationally to provide legal expertise on foundational rights for democracy. v