One of the bogus NGOs well known to Baghdad locals is the al-Ameen housing organization. In its printed materials al-Ameen – ironically the name means something like “trustworthy” in Arabic - boasted that it worked together with the Baghdad city authorities to provide the needy with decent housing in return for an affordable payment plan.
And indeed the organization did parcel out pieces of land to would-be home owners and start charging them small mortgage fees; it sold more than 5,000 pieces of land. It was only later that the home owners discovered they were actually living on government land.
Some of the recipients had already built on their land and they refused to leave their homes, arguing that they had paid money toward the purchase and also that it was the state’s responsibility to supervise both its own land and the bogus NGO involved.
According to al-Abaygi, the al-Ameen housing co-operative, which disappeared altogether in 2005, was not registered and was “engaged in fraud”. Even now though, some Baghdad locals will still direct you to the “al-Ameen neighbourhood”.
Iraq’s bogus NGOs were not all started up for financial advantage or to access international donations. Running their own NGO helped some Iraqis migrate or gain foreign citizenship. “They would say they were in danger of assassination because of their humanitarian activities and then, after they were granted asylum and migrated to Europe, the NGO would cease to exist,” al-Abaygi explained.
This year, a law passed by the Iraqi parliament in February 2010, supervising the various locals NGOs more closely, is now slowly coming into effect and this is changing the situation with NGOs.
“A formal count and coordination of these NGOs is only beginning to emerge now with the establishment of the New NGO Law,” the NCCI wrote.
The new law, Law Number 12, required all NGOs to re-register. And one of the biggest differences, according to observers, is the fact that NGOs must now provide an official address that is verified by their local authorities. While groups like the NCCI generally praised the new law, they also reported that the new registration could make for a long and arduous process and hinder an NGO’s work.
Official statistics indicated that from mid-2010 up until September 2011, only 250 NGOs have officially registered in Iraq. Hundreds of organisations were apparently denied the right to register and others were asked to submit further documents.
Leading Iraqi human rights activist Hana Edward, head of the Al Amal (Hope) organization which works in women’s rights and also with displaced Iraqis, was pleased about the new law, saying it would put an end to the bogus NGOs because of the need to supply proof of a permanent address.
On the other hand, Edward worries about some of the other new conditions of registration which include proving that NGO heads have not been convicted of any crime and also that they have been cleared of playing any major part in former dictator Saddam Hussein’s government. She believes this has led to a decrease in the number of official registrations.
Another point of criticism centres on the fact that the new law includes no mention of state support for civil society organizations, such as NGOs, yet it places NGOs under the direct supervision of the executive branch: NGOs apply for registration to, and report to, the NGOs Department in the Secretariat of the Iraqi Cabinet.
Nonetheless, al-Attar, who, as head of the NGOs Department, will be in charge of registering NGOs, is optimistic that things will get better. The implementation of the new law “will put an end to the fake NGOs in Iraq and will improve the standards of existing NGOs’ work,” he told NIQASH.
(Source: NIQASH)
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