Aden.. Social Affairs imposes new restrictions on the creation and registration of civil society organizations

Yemen

Yamanat

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor in Aden has imposed new restrictions on the establishment and registration of civil society organizations.

Under the new requirements, the ministry prohibited the registration or creation of any civil entity under the name “network” or “coalition” and limited coordination frameworks between organizations to only “unions”, while prohibiting the use of these titles in the official names of associations and institutions.

The ministry also banned the advertising or carrying out of any activity by any entity not officially registered.

The ministry attributed these measures to monitoring the work of civil society and protecting the legal framework.

These restrictions open a wide door to questions about the future of civilian work, as it is feared that they will weaken the role of civil society organizations and reduce spaces for coordination and integration between them, at a time when community partnership is supposed to be strengthened to deal with worsening humanitarian and development challenges.

While the authorities justify these measures by the need to regulate and protect the legal framework, the real challenge remains to achieve a delicate balance between administrative control and guaranteeing the freedom of civil society work, so as to avoid the organization transforming into a restrictive tool that limits the effectiveness and independence of civil society.

Yemen