Myanmar: Analysis of the Organisation Registration Law The NGO Law requires any unregistered organisation to register within 60 days of the Law’s enactment (meaning by the end of 2022) in order to continue operations. 31 Such a short deadline means that many organisations are likely already technically operating illegally. The Law preserves the certificates of organisations registered under the 2014 Law until they expire.32 However, since certificates under the 2014 Law only last for five years, many have already expired or will soon. 2.2. Assessment against International Standards The ability of NGOs to register legally, meaning as formal legal entities which are independent of their individual members or staff, is often crucial for NGOs to conduct basic operations, such as raising funds. States should therefore provide a pathway for them to obtain legal status. Such registration should, however, be voluntarily rather than mandatory. The right to freedom of association is a fundamental human right, belonging to everyone. On numerous occasions, United Nations experts and standard-setting documents have condemned mandatory registration regimes and affirmed that the right to association includes the right to associate informally with others. 33 As stated by the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights Defenders: “The insistence by certain Governments that all groups must register, however small or informal they may be, reflects the intention to control their activities and filter those groups that are critical of government policies”.34 The UN Special Rapporteur for assembly and association has observed that mandatory registration requirements can disproportionately impact certain ethnic, minority or disadvantaged groups.35 NGOs in remote regions or which use minority languages may face practical challenges to registration, for example. The NGO Law’s apparent exclusion of religious groups could also disproportionately impact religious minorities and religiouslyaffiliated NGOs, a serious concern given past ethnic and religious discrimination in Myanmar. Criminal penalties for participating in an unregistered group are a particularly grave human rights concern.36 Normally, imprisonment should be reserved for the most serious kinds of 31 Section 55. Section 56. 33 2012 Report of the Special Rapporteur on assembly and association, note 17, para. 56; UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Practical recommendations for the creation and maintenance of a safe and enabling environment for civil society, based on good practices and lessons learned, 11 April 2016, para. 84(c), undocs.org/A/HRC/32/20; Guidelines on Freedom of Association and Assembly in Africa, note 14, para. 11; OSCE and Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, Guidelines on Freedom of Association, 2015, para. 48, https://bit.ly/3DSUNnA; and UN OHCHR, “Cambodia’s Draft NGO Law Must be Fully in Line with International Law – UN Experts”, 14 October 2011, https://bit.ly/3RJwaiP. 34 Report of the Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, 4 August 2009, para. 60, undocs.org/A/64/226. 35 Report of the Special Rapporteur on assembly and association, 14 April 2014, para. 53, undocs.org/A/HRC/26/29. 36 2009 Report of the Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, note 34, paras. 65 and 104; and 2012 Report of the Special Rapporteur on assembly and association, note 17, para. 56. 32 The Centre for Law and Democracy is a non-profit human rights organisation working internationally to provide legal expertise on foundational rights for democracy. 7