Myanmar: Analysis of the Organisation Registration Law NGO framework laws containing lists of permitted or prohibited activities for civil society organizations are extremely problematic, as the often rather vague formulations of such provisions lend themselves to discretionary interpretation by the relevant government organs and may be used to curtail activities of civil society organizations that are critical of government policies or practice.129 Organisations should also not be expected to align their activities with government policies.130 Some features of the NGO Law indicate just such an expectation from the military regime. For example, the requirements to obtain a recommendation from the relevant sector government entity, list activities at registration and submit activity reports to GAD Township offices, all suggest an expectation that NGOs will align their work with government priorities and programmes. Governments should approach civil society in a spirit of cooperation rather than control, but the NGO Law takes the opposite approach, attempting to force NGOs into compliance with the military’s own vision for the country. 8. Conclusion and Recommendations The NGO Law represents yet another authoritarian development by the military regime governing Myanmar. In multiple ways, it undermines the right to freedom of association, as well as other fundamental human rights. Many features conflict with standards articulated in international human rights law, such as the mandatory registration requirement, overly burdensome application procedure, intrusive oversight and inspection powers, restrictions on allowable NGO activities, extensive grounds on which NGOs may lose their authorisation to operate and overly broad criminal sanctions. The military regime has also afforded itself substantial powers to alter the procedures in the NGO Law or its implementation, often in arbitrary and non-transparent ways. Many aspects of the Law are insufficiently detailed. Examples include the lack of clear procedures for oversight and inspection, the undefined membership of the registration boards and the ability of registration boards to change the procedures for reviewing registration applications. NGOs in Myanmar now face significant legal uncertainty and additional grounds for surveillance and harassment. While this is not a new reality for Myanmar civil society, NGOs will need to make hard decisions about whether to attempt to comply with the new legal regime. Some may decide that it is safer to risk sanctions for operating as unregistered organisations instead of subjecting themselves to the new legal regime. Others may decide that they need to stop operations altogether and disband. 129 Ibid., para. 79. Report of the UN Special Rapporteur on assembly and association, 26 July 2018, para. 30, undocs.org/A/HRC/38/34. 130 The Centre for Law and Democracy is a non-profit human rights organisation working internationally to provide legal expertise on foundational rights for democracy. 29