NGOs and the war on terror
Background
The War on Terrorism impacts on NGOs in several ways:
- Political issues around development aid and foreign policy priorities.
- Listing of organisations as terrorist or terrorist-supporting entities ('designation') and the difficulties of operating in highly politicised areas such as Palestine and Sri Lanka. There is no clear, apolitical definition of 'supporting terrorist activity' in such contexts.
- The development of a regulatory framework to prevent terrorist abuse: this includes measures to ensure that legitimate organisations do not become channels for terrorist funding, and identifying charities that are 'fronts' for terrorist funding.
BOND's sector adocacy work concentrates primarily on the second and third points, with the first covered by the UK Aid Network.
BOND's position
BOND's policy is framed around the following principles:
- Proportionality: The actual instance of terrorist abuse of charities is small and should not be overstated.
- Light touch: Any intervention by government should seek to minimise the cost to valuable and legitimate humanitarian and development work.
- Autonomy: Development NGOs need to ensure that they are in accordance with the law and have put in place appropriate risk-management strategies, but teh development of best practice should take place within the sector, rather than being imposed from the outside.
- International harmonisation: Neither BOND nor the UK government accepts the US system of terrorist designation. Organisations designated in the US but which are considered legitimate by the UK regulator should therefore be able to work freely, and UK government should take steps to ensure this is the case.
- 'At-risk' NGOs: Some types of NGO are at greater risk - actual risk of terrorist abuse because of their activities and the places they work, and perceived risk due to their cultural or religious origins. We stand for a risk-based approach, but against ill-informed stereotyping. We stand together as the NGO community.
Publications and policy
Collateral damage: NGO beneficiaries could be the next casualties of the war on terror
The Government has published its last word on charities and terrorism, in the form of a response to the submissions it received to its consultation on charities and terrorist abuse. On key areas, including the changes in language and the good faith defence requested by the sector, the Government says it disagrees and will not make any changes (February 2008).
Collateral damage: NGO beneficiaries could be the next casualties of the war on terror
Charity Commission consultation on risk and proportionality
BOND responds to a draft strategy paper from the Commission that will guide its decisions on when to investigate charities, and what issues to treat as 'zero tolerance' (November 2007)
BOND Risk and Proportionality submission (89 KB)
BOND Risk and Proportionality submission (260 KB)
Review of Safeguards to Protect the Charitable Sector (England and Wales) from Terrorist Abuse
Government consults on its strategy on charities and terrorism. BOND submits a significant policy response.
BOND Charities and Terrorism submission (108 KB)
BOND Charities and Terrorism submission (1633 KB)