Authorities again refuse to register Assembly of Pro-democratic NGOs

11.04.2009 Tags: freedom of association

https://spring96.org/en/news/27938 2009 2009-04-11T18:31:58+0300 2009-04-11T18:31:58+0300 1970-01-01T03:00:00+0300 en The Human Rights Center “Viasna” The Human Rights Center “Viasna” The Human Rights Center “Viasna”

The Human Rights Center “Viasna”

This information was voiced by the leaders of the Assembly on 10 April. On 9 April they received a letter, signed by the vice-minister of justice Alexander Simanau (the application for registration was submitted on 6 March, and the legal time for giving an answer is one month).

The Ministry of Justice refused to register the organization, explaining the decision by alleged violations during the establishment of the Assembly of pro-democratic NGOs. In particular, the ministry states that the treaty on its establishment is invalid, because the heads of the member organizations signed it without the agreement of the governing bodies of the organizations. Another pretension is that the name of the organization allegedly does not point at the subject of activities of its members.

Representatives of the Assembly consider the refusal politically motivated. ‘The treaty on the establishment of the Assembly was signed by the heads of the member organizations after they were authorized to do it by the assemblies of the organizations’, emphasized the lawyer Yury Chavusau. ‘We abided by the legal procedure, which is confirmed by the documents’.

The lawyer also considers as fundamental the pretension that the name of the Assembly does not reflect the subject of activities of its members. ‘The Assembly includes very different organizations, and it is impossible to reflect the subject of activities of all of them in one name at once. If we consider this pretension as correct, it would be impossible to register any non-profile association at all,’ emphasizes Mr. Chavusau.

Soon the leaders of the Assembly of Pro-democratic NGOs will appeal against the registration refusal at the Supreme Court. ‘At the same time, we will consider the possibility to file documents for registration once again,’ adds the head of the Assembly’s Working Group Siarhei Matskevich.

He also reminded that it is already the second registration denial – the first one was given in 2002 (1,5 years after the application for registration). The Assembly has appealed against the first registration denial to the UN Human Rights Committee.