Government NGOs

Shirin Ebadi, Rooz Online:

With the new Iranian government in power, once again the topic of NGOs and their activities have become the source of negative comments by government officials. Such comments have provoked the sensitivity of civil society activists and brought about alarms on the new restrictions for NGOs.

While I truly share some of the concerns regarding the independent NGOs, I also express my grave concern over the spread of government NGOs in the new atmosphere ruling in the country.

Although the phenomenon of government NGOs is not a new issue in Iran but what is of concern is the organized growth of such organizations in the new government of president Ahmadinejad. These NGOs are registered by the government, get government support, have a government budget and enjoy being part of the government network. So instead of taking the responsibility of independently defending citizen's rights, these groups engage in policies to defend government activities and proclamations. There are certainly different motives for creating such NGOs. Some do it to get money, while others provide wrong information regarding human rights conditions in Iran.The reality is that many of these government NGOs shamelessly build international networks to obtain a variety of projects. The outcome of such extensive activities is usually to provide products that have been officially prescribed to local and international public opinion. READ MORE

The formation of government NGOs is an intelligent response by some state officials who are threatened by the birth and growth of independent and genuine NGOs. Interestingly, whenever the government cracks down on independent NGOs, the attacks do remain confined there and soon include official NGOs.

Warnings about the full-scale implications of attacks on independent NGOs should therefore be publicized so that official NGOs can join the others in stopping such encroachments.