NGOs and the Law

Letter from the Editors

The International Journal
of Not-for-Profit Law

Volume 3, Issue 3, March 2001

Dear Readers,

This is the third issue of Volume III, in which we are highlighting a variety of developments in the world of not-for-profit law. We feature reports from a wide range of countries and regions about a wide variety of issues.

Unfortunately one of the most significant developments is the conviction and imprisonment of our friend, the Egyptian civil society activist, Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim. We have covered this story of the trial of Saad and other staff of the Ibn Khaldoun Center over the past few months and are sad to report that despite wide-spread international condemnation of the conviction – and, indeed, of the proceedings themselves – Saad and his colleagues sit behind bars to day. Our story on the developments features a link to a petition being circulated by Amnesty International, and we urge our readers to fill it out.

Other highlights of this issue include:

  • There is a new law governing NGOs in Yemen. While not entirely consistent with international good practice, this law is a bold new step in the Arab Region.
  • A new draft law on associations is being considered in Cambodia.
  • Both Ghana and Botswana have draft NGO – government policy documents, which give a good deal of insight into the new structure of relations between state and civil society on the African continent.
  • With respect to self-regulation, we feature developments in Nigeria, Botswana, and Switzerland, as well as reports from two program officers at Intrac, Simon Heap and Julie Gale.
  • There is new tax legislation affecting NPOs in Japan, which provides a narrow opening for more tax benefits being made available.
  • We also have a report from the South Pacific, where a conference was held to discuss legal and fiscal reforms for the region.

In addition, we have included three significant articles –

  • Chen Guangyao, an official in the Ministry of Civil Affairs in China, has permitted us to reprint a speech he delivered on the status of NGOs in China;
  • Alceste Santuari, one of our frequent contributors, has written a significant paper on the development of the relations between state and civil society in Italy;
  • Mokbul Ahmad has written an interesting overview of the legal status of NGOs in Bangladesh; and
  • Petr Pajas, IJNL’s Associate General Editor, has previewed the Czech Government and NGOs in 2001.

We are also publishing as an article a summary of the Tax Survey we did for Central and Eastern Europe, which will soon be complete and available on the web site.

All in all, this issue is quite a rich one. We hope you will enjoy reading the various articles, country reports, book reviews, and other materials! Please send us any comments and suggestions you may have.

Best regards,

Karla Simon and Lee Irish, General Editors

ICNL is grateful to those who have supported this publication, including the United States Agency for International Development, the World Bank, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Open Society Institute, the Wallace Global Fund, the Helen Bader Foundation, the Compton Foundation, the American Express Foundation, the AT&T Foundation, the GE Fund, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Counterpart Foundation, the Aga Khan Foundation, the Henry M. Jackson Foundation, the Asian Development Bank, and the Eurasia Foundation.