On December 3rd, was published in the Official Gazette Number 6,855 Extraordinary, the Law on the Supervision, Regularization, Action and Financing of Non-Governmental Organizations and Non-Profit Social Organizations and its final copntententsa were known at last. The legal document, which is dated November 15th, was approved in the second discussion (definite approval) by the National Assembly last August.
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For the General Coordinator of Provea, Oscar Murillo, the so-called “anti-society law” seeks to exercise greater control over Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and close all civic spaces in the country.
He considered that the publication of this law this year is not a coincidence. He explained that the regulations were approved amid complaints of arbitrary arrests of opponents, repression of post-election protests, judicial investigations and violation of the electoral legislation.
According to Provea’s analysis, 2024 has been the year with the greatest setbacks in the area of democracy and human rights in Venezuela.
“So the law against NGOs comes to control, to supervise, and also, it comes to legalize the persecution against civil organizations and non-profit foundations in Venezuela,” said Murillo.
Violation of citizens rights
Article 3.1 of the regulations establishes that the law aims to “facilitate the exercise of the right to association as a human right and expression of the model of participatory and protagonist democracy established in the Constitution.”
However, the activist and human rights researcher argued that the article imposes excessive controls and disproportionate sanctions that limit the right to freedom of association, freedom of expression and participation in public affairs by Venezuelans.
He stressed that non-profit civil associations may be affected, regardless of their activity, whether in the field of human rights, welfare law, humanitarian, educational, cultural, technological, environmental, among others.
The General Coordinator of Provea pointed out that one of the key aspects of this law is that organizations must submit a series of administrative requirements so that they can have legal personality (standing) and authorize their operation.
Article 12 of the law states that in order to obtain legal personality, representatives of a non-governmental organization or nonprofit social organization must submit to the competent body in matters of public registration the statutory constitutive act of the organization, accompanied by a copy of the identity card and the tax information record of each of the persons who are part of the organization, after verifying the availability of the name provided for the organization.
“This registry already existed, what the new law requires is that we have to update this registry, where they end up not only not respecting your previous registration, but that also you have to go (repeatedly) to the registry update and it depends on that registry update and the adequacy of your statutes when, finally, the State decides at its discretion whether you now exist or not. “That is a bit of a trap that the law poses,” said Murillo, while indicating that Provea has been registered since 1988.
Oscar Murillo, general coordinator of Provea
Sanctions
The General Coordinator of Provea warned that the legal instrument, which has 39 articles, contemplates sanctions that range from “unsustainable” economic fines to the suspension and immediate dissolution of the organization.
The law published in the Official Gazette specifies that some of the formal offenses are: failure to comply with the obligation to timely register the acts and events provided for in this law (article 35.1); failure to comply with the obligation to notify the competent body about the financing or donations that will be received, in order to ensure the legality of the funds and compliance with the provisions of this law (article 35.2).
In view of this, the NGO or non-profit social organization that incurs in any of the formal “offenses” provided for in this law will be sanctioned with a fine in an amount in bolivars equivalent to between one hundred (100) and one thousand (1,000) times the official exchange rate of the currency of greatest value published by the Central Bank of Venezuela.
In case of recidivism, the amount of the fine will be the equivalent in bolivars between five hundred (500) and ten thousand (10,000) times the official exchange rate of the currency of greatest value published by the Central Bank of Venezuela (article 36).
“NGOs in Venezuela already comply with laws established in democratic periods, guaranteeing transparency, accountability and responsibility of these organizations. This new law has no other objective than to restrict the independence of these organizations and silence critical voices in the country,” said Murillo.
Furthermore, the activist stressed that those most harmed by the application of this law will be the most vulnerable sectors of the population that receive help from Non-Governmental Organizations.
“Those who are going to lose or who are really the objective, the target of this new restrictive law of the legal ecosystem that has been established in Venezuela, parallel to the Constitution, are the families, the victims, the communities that turn to us in any way, but also to an important group of non-profit civil associations,” he said.
Murillo said that Provea does not rule out resorting to legal proceedings within the country to expose “the inappropriateness of this law”, issue the corresponding warnings and document them in a legal recourse that could be introduced before the Supreme Court of Justice.