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Right to Freedom of association and the Reality of Civic engagement in Northeast Syria between local law and international standards

Click here to read PDF EN Analytical report AR تقرير تحليلي

This report, issued by the Fraternity Foundation for Human Rights-FFHR, focuses on the effects of Law No. (3) of 2017 and its executive regulations, known as The Law Governing the Work of Civil Society Organizations issued by the self-administration of North and East Syria) shows the effectiveness of civic engagement of Organizations of Civil Work in northern and eastern Syria.

In light of its constant quest since its establishment, the Fraternity Foundation for Human Rights-FFHR, as a specialized human rights organization, promotes and protects the right to freedom of local organizations, the Fraternity Foundation for Human Rights, through its analytical report, seeks to pave the way for civil and societal participation of the concerned parties to influence local policy-making and decision-making on the one hand, and to strengthen the rule of law derived from international human rights standards, mainly global standards related to the right to freedom of local organizations on the other hand.

Colleague Miral Biroreda, our CEO, says in the Preamble of this report.

This report sought to evaluate the local organizations Law No. 3 of 2017 and its implementing regulations in terms of exploring the extent of the participation of concerned parties from local organizations and their workers in drafting this law before its issuance and the extent to which their observations were taken into account after its issuance, and the extent to which their observations were taken into account after its publication, which is the subject of discussion about civic participation and strengthening it.

The report confirms the legal criticism of the Fraternity Foundation for Human Rights-FFHR in its policy paper issued in 2018 on Law No. 3 of 2017, in addition to the applicable questionnaire, the weakness of the legislative structure of the law regarding building a balanced relationship between the freedom to form local organizations and their responsibility.

With regard to exploring the reality and its practices, a comprehensive questionnaire was designed for the various aspects of the report and its indicators (Appendix 1) and distributed to a sample of civil organizations operating in the Jazira and Raqqa regions in north-eastern Syria, which operate under Law No. 3 of 2017 regulating the organizations’ work. The sample consisted of 39 organizations, in the cities of Qamishli, Hasaka, Maabada, Raqqa, Deir Ezzor and Manbij.

The report ended with a number of recommendations, including the following:

– The report recommends allowing local organizations or other NGOs to work before registration and not requiring registration before start working, and depending on the notification system before the organization is registered, and the requirement to register specialized development organizations according to easy, clear criteria, and within a short period of time.

– The report recommends the Office of Organizations Affairs to focus on coordination and integration between authorities bodies and organizations operating in the region according to the relevant sectors, instead of authoritarian control and unjustified interference in the work of local organizations through procedures of approving the activities, staff recruitment, and internal affairs of local organizations in a manner that does not conflict with the principle of transparency and good governance.

– The report recommends the concerned organizations to seek specialization and follow a work methodology in the sectors specified for their work and to restore its societal role in policy-making and decision-making and not to be down to policies that empty civic work of its content, instead of the basic role for which it was established.

اضغط لقراءة التقرير Analytical report