Today morning, the Palestinian NGO Network and human rights organizations in Gaza held a meeting due to publishing the amendments made by the Council of Ministers in Gaza to the Executive Bill of the Charitable Associations and Community Organizations Law No.
1/2000 in volume 81 of al-Waqa'i Official Gazette in Gaza.
  The decision was issued by the Council of Ministers in Gaza on 31 May 2011, but had been revealed in August 2011.
  The Decision added two articles to the Executive Bill as follows: 1.
                   Article (31 bis) stipulates that: 'Branches of foreign organizations registered in the Palestinian Territory shall be subject to legal provisions and regulatory measures applied by the Ministry and the Competent Ministry to local organizations.
' 2.
                   Article (47 bis) stipulates that: '1.
All the branches of local organizations shall provide to the Ministry or the Competent Ministry any documents or papers upon request; and 2.
The Ministry and the Competent Ministry shall implement activities implemented by branches of local organizations to make sure that the funds of the said branches are spent for the designated purpose.
'   The Palestinian NGO Network and human rights organizations had already criticized these amendments, as they substantially violate the law and grants more power to the Ministry of Interior to intervene into the affairs of NGOs and restrict their work.
  Participants in the meeting adopted a number of steps to be applied in order to address this development, including considering the possibility to resort to the judiciary to challenge and annul this decision.
  They also stressed that this decision is illegal and explicitly violates of the Charitable Associations and Community Organizations Law No.
1/2000 as follows: 1.
                   Article 6 of the Charitable Associations and Community Organizations Law No.
1/2000 explicitly states that: 'The Competent Ministry shall undertake the follow-up of organizations' activities' as it is the most capable to undertake this duty by virtue of its functions.
2.
                   The above Article does not grant the competent ministry, which is the Ministry of Interior, any powers to follow up organizations' activities in all circumstances; however, the Article determines the follow-up duty in accordance with each case separately and in accordance with a letter addressed by the Competent Minister.
  The same Article states that: 'The Ministry may follow up the activities of any organization based on a written reasoned decision taken by the Competent Minister in each case, to make sure that an organization’s funds are spent for the designated purpose and in accordance with the provisions of this Law and of the organization’s statute.
' 3.
                   Even in the cases in which the main activities of organizations do not fall within the competence of any ministry, the Executive Bill defines the Ministry of Justice as the competent ministry, and has no mention of the Ministry of Interior.
  Article 3.
7 states that: 'The Ministry of Justice shall be the Competent Ministry to follow up organizations whose main activities do not fall within the competence of any existing ministry.
'   In view of all the above, the Palestinian NGO Network and human rights organizations call upon the government in Gaza to reconsider its decision to make amendments to the Executive Bill of the Charitable Associations and Community Organizations Law No.
1/2000 to ensure respect for the rule of law.
  The Palestinian NGO Network The Palestinian Center for Human Rights Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights Al-Dameer Association for Human Rights