Non-Governmental & Not-For-Profit Organizations
Non-Governmental & Not-For-Profit Organizations
Human Rights Organization Denied Reregistration
FYI, on the heels of the below message, on Nov. 15, my client, an active human rights organization funded in part by the UN
HCR), was denied registration by the Federal Registration Service. The stated grounds were that there were three technical problems with their paperwork (e.g., that the executive director of the foreign NGO had filed the papers instead of the local executive director (which does not
violate any existing rule or guideline)). There are two problems with the given reasons for rejection: first, two of the three stated reasons for rejection had been thoroughly discussed during a meeting between that organization and the FRS, and the FRS had agreed that the submitted corrections
were sufficient to fix the problems; the third stated reason was never brought up during the meeting (all problems with the filing are supposed to be addressed during such a meeting) and as I noted above, is not a requirement anyway. The second major problem here is that the rejection took place just a few days after that organization had been recognized in the foreign media for its activities in Russia. Interesting timing.
For the time being, the organization is maintaining that this rejection is due purely to bureaucracy, not political motives, and they are re-applying. In the meantime, their organization is effectively shut down -- it can continue to pay rent and pay employees, but is not allowed to do any outside activities (i.e., their human rights work in Chechnya).
I note that I am aware of other organizations who submitted papers to the FRS with the same alleged "problems" in the paperwork that ostensibly caused this organization's rejection, and those organizations (which do non-controversial work) were granted registration.
We do not wish at this point to make a big deal out of this, since the organization is re-applying and hopes to be registered based on the new application. However, this rejection an active human rights group in Russia is causing considerable worry among the NGO community.
Best regards,
Human Rights Organization Denied Reregistration
FYI, on the heels of the below message, on Nov. 15, my client, an active human rights organization funded in part by the UN
HCR), was denied registration by the Federal Registration Service. The stated grounds were that there were three technical problems with their paperwork (e.g., that the executive director of the foreign NGO had filed the papers instead of the local executive director (which does not
violate any existing rule or guideline)). There are two problems with the given reasons for rejection: first, two of the three stated reasons for rejection had been thoroughly discussed during a meeting between that organization and the FRS, and the FRS had agreed that the submitted corrections
were sufficient to fix the problems; the third stated reason was never brought up during the meeting (all problems with the filing are supposed to be addressed during such a meeting) and as I noted above, is not a requirement anyway. The second major problem here is that the rejection took place just a few days after that organization had been recognized in the foreign media for its activities in Russia. Interesting timing.
For the time being, the organization is maintaining that this rejection is due purely to bureaucracy, not political motives, and they are re-applying. In the meantime, their organization is effectively shut down -- it can continue to pay rent and pay employees, but is not allowed to do any outside activities (i.e., their human rights work in Chechnya).
I note that I am aware of other organizations who submitted papers to the FRS with the same alleged "problems" in the paperwork that ostensibly caused this organization's rejection, and those organizations (which do non-controversial work) were granted registration.
We do not wish at this point to make a big deal out of this, since the organization is re-applying and hopes to be registered based on the new application. However, this rejection an active human rights group in Russia is causing considerable worry among the NGO community.
Best regards,
posted by Karen Hudes at 2:30 PM
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