Case Filed Against NGO Code of Conduct

Kathmandu, Nov 17-A writ petition was filed in the Supreme Court today seeking nullification of the recently introduced code of conduct for the governmental and non-governmental organisations.

Ten petitioners, including advocate Gopal Siwakoti Chintan, filed the petition seeking the apex court order to scrap the conduct code.Cabinet Secretariat, Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare, Home Ministry and Social Welfare Council have been made defendants in the case.

The petitioners claimed that the code of conduct violates the fundamental rights guaranteed by the 1990 Constitution, Association Registration Act, 2034 and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Mainwhile ,Association of International NGOs (AIN)—a network of more than 50 INGOs working in Nepal—has said the new Code of Conduct (CoC) introduced by the government last week has deepened the suspicion of international development donors and partners that the present government wants to constrain and silence the defenders of human rights in the country.

In a communiqué issued on Thursday, the AIN expressed its serious concerns about the new CoC for social organizations saying that it was published despite the serious reservations from international community, donors, UN, civil society, International and Nepali NGOs. “The AIN was not invited to participate in the second round of consultations leading to the published latest CoC and the composition of the drafting committee for the CoC did not have appropriate representation of the concerned agencies such as NGO Federation of Nepal and AIN,” the statement said.

Saying that most of the development work in conflict-affected areas is presently done by national and local NGOs, with the support of the INGOs and other agencies, the Association of INGOs said the CoC will limit their necessary flexibility, independence, responsiveness to implement effective support for Nepal’s poorest and most vulnerable people. “The CoC will curtail INGOs’ and (Nepali) NGOs’ ability to freely and impartially assess and report abuses of human rights,” the statement said.

The AIN further said it fully respects the authority of HMG/Nepal and the need to establish an effective regulatory framework for the I/NGO sector, but some of the clauses in the CoC may contradict the existing legal instruments and the international conventions already governing the work of I/NGOs in Nepal.