Regulation of NGOs

• Pages: 184-186

Contenidos

• The Issue.
• Legal and Policy Considerations.
• Practice Examples.
• References.

The Issue

Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are vital to providing services and information to their constituencies affected by HIV and AIDS. NGOs have proliferated around the world and serve multiple roles, including providing a voice for vulnerable and marginalized populations; advocating for law and policy changes; working with national and local governments, international organizations, funders, and independently to provide services to the population; and holding governments accountable for failing to address the HIV epidemic adequately. Many NGOs have developed close links with poor and underserved communities most adversely affected by HIV, and demonstrated an ability to reach out to people, to work in inaccessible areas, and to innovate, or in other ways achieve results that are difficult for official agencies.

While governments often have supportive, collaborative relationships with NGOs, in some instances NGOs and governments do not coexist well, particularly when NGOs criticize the government or represent disfavored groups. NGOs that support the rights of sex workers, homosexuals, and drug users may antagonize the government by advocating for policies that violate the law. Many governments have implemented widespread regulation of NGOs. Regulations may restrict the activities, expressions, and positions of NGOs, with implications for how they address the impact of HIV in their targeted constituencies.

Legal and Policy Considerations

In regulating NGOs, governments generally have tried to balance regulation and facilitation so that scarce government resources need not be committed to managing a complex regulatory framework for HIV/AIDS programs. While some countries have attempted to impose harsh restrictions on NGOs, others have developed a system of self-governance. NGOs may face three regulatory hurdles imposed under law: a restrictive system of registration; a requirement that government agencies administer and police their daily work; and requirements regulating agency funding, often mandating that funds be routed through or monitored by government agencies. These regulations may restrict the presence and activities of organizations that may be a source of aid and information to local communities that receive little or no help from their government. Governments without an open democratic tradition are more inclined to control...