NGO regulator goes on membership drive

THE government’s Civil Society Forum Alliance (CSAF), a body tasked with influencing legislation on the NGO sector, has embarked on a countrywide membership drive, attempting to get local civil society organisations to join its ranks and to meet with local communities to assess their concerns.

The group, which was formed in 2016, is stacked with government officials and very few civil society members, prompting observers to suggest the body will only serve to legitimise legislation that restricts the sector.

The forum launched a Facebook page late last month that shows its president and Council of Ministers official Kemrath Viseth travelling around the country and meeting with civil society organisations and local communities. Just this week, the page shows photos of him in Kampong Cham, Preah Vihear and Kampong Thom.

Lor Chan, Preah Vihear provincial coordinator for rights group Adhoc said that while the forum’s members were meeting with people on the ground they were also asking local NGOs to register with the forum.

“CSAF said that in some locations, civil society organisations, people and authorities are at odds with each other. Therefore it wants the three parties to move close toward each other to form a triangle of understanding,” he said.

However, the forum has been met with scepticism as the government has intensified oversight of the NGO sector, with passage of the controversial Law on Associations and NGOs in 2015, and more recently the singling out of allegedly critical and “pro-opposition” organisations as part of a supposed “colour revolution”.

A copy of the membership form for the CSAF shows that while the forum requires basic information about the NGO, it also asks for its completed and current projects, including funding and donor details, as well as the organisation’s total budget for the last three years and personnel data.

Sakhun Porin, head of public relations for CSAF, said membership was voluntary and that the forum was not trying to coerce NGOs to sign up.

“My institution is a coordinator, not the operator [to make decisions]. If they [NGOs] are interested in this or not, it is their business,” he said.

Poek Sophon, chief of advocacy for Preah Vihear NGO Ponlok Khmer, said they skipped the meeting because they didn’t believe that civil society would be able to influence its recommendations.

“The finding of solutions is still going to go from the lower level up and that the decision will be based on the upper level of authorities,” Sophon said.