Wednesday, March 12, 2014

NGO Do-Over

Maybe it's not a good idea to try and purge non-governmental organizations like C-Libre and FIAN after all. 

It just might get you in trouble.

Today Juan Orlando Hernández met with representatives of several unnamed non-governmental organizations and his Minister of Human Rights, Justice, Government, and Decentralization, Rigoberto Chang Castillo. 

Afterward, a communique read by his chief of staff, Reinaldo Sanchez, ordered a review and restructuring of the Unidad de Registro y Seguimiento de Asociaciones Civiles (URSAC), the unit that just a few days ago tried to cancel the registration of 5,429 NGOs claiming deficiencies in their filings. 

The goal of the review and restructuring will be to have better control over the NGOs and to modernize the handling of NGO authorizations and the filing of required reports. 

The government also walked back the cancellation of those 5429 organizations, ordering a new review of each one's files.

Sanchez noted that the government was aware of the importance of the role played by civil society and the NGOs in strengthening Honduras's democracy and diminishing economic inequality.

Clearly, someone wasn't on the same page...

Oops!

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