Myanmar: Analysis of the Organisation Registration Law 7. Restrictions on Activities and Advocacy 7.1. Requirements under the NGO Law The NGO Law restricts the ability of registered organisations to engage in political, religious or economic activities. Organisations that “directly or indirectly” participate in such activities cannot register, while registered organisations are expected to engage only in “social activities”, which are specifically defined so as to exclude direct or indirect involvement in these sectors.120 Using an organisation’s name in support of a political party or a religion, or for any benefit beyond the social activities, is also criminally sanctionable with up to three years’ imprisonment.121 In contrast, the 2014 NGO Law did not restrict activities in these areas, merely indicating that organisations were outside the scope of the Law if they “only” engaged in religious or economic activities.122 Registered NGOs also have duties to avoid certain types of activities, with a failure to do so potentially attracting either administrative or criminal sanctions. As described earlier, much of the sanctionable conduct is defined in vague terms which invites abuse, potentially criminalising peaceful and legitimate activities, including contacting or providing aid to people who are thought to be affiliated with armed groups, engaging in political commentary or criticism, or otherwise pursuing activities deemed by the government to be harmful to the State. Beyond these specific restrictions, the NGO Law limits NGOs to carrying out pre-approved activities. NGOs must describe their objectives and intended activities when they register. They are then prohibited from going beyond the activities approved by the registration board, which are in turn based on the recommendation of the relevant sector government entity.123 Similarly, an NGO which wishes to change its objectives or activities must obtain a new recommendation from the relevant sector government entity and approval from the registration board. 124 Hopefully, registration boards will only require a highly general description of an organisation’s activities, allowing for more specific activities to be planned within an approved category, but this will be at the discretion of the relevant authorities. The NGO Law also imposes geographic restrictions on the activities of organisations. As noted in the registration section, NGOs are only supposed to operate in the area overseen by their registration board. An exception exists if the State declares a natural disaster area, but 120 NGO Law, section 2(g). The GNLM translation refers to activities which aim to promote the “interests of the majority”. We understand this as a poor translation (the Lincoln translation instead refers to the “common good”) but if the translation is accurate, this would also imply a troublesome exclusion of groups representing the interests of minorities. 121 NGO Law, section 36. 122 2014 NGO Law, section 19(a). 123 NGO Law, section 28(e). 124 NGO Law, section 28(i). The Centre for Law and Democracy is a non-profit human rights organisation working internationally to provide legal expertise on foundational rights for democracy. 27