The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is preparing to disburse new grants and aid package to Egyptian civil society organizations which are registered by the government, a move that has been widely criticized by human rights activists. A senior USAID official told Al-Mary Al-Youm that possible funds would only reach NGOs that “abide by the Egyptian government legal requirements stipulated by the Ministry of Social Solidarity or other bodies.” The official, who spoke on conditions of anonymity, said that most of the grants will be awarded to projects related to human rights, women's empowerment, child protection and developing the concept of citizenship among the country's youth. He added that organizations wishing to obtain grants should have prior experience in their project area, and have a solid administrative and financial structure. All the projects launched by USAID have received approval from the Egyptian government and will be implemented with cooperation from official bodies such as Egypt's provincial governments, the official stated. Regarding the future course of USAID to Egypt, the official indicated that the scholarship programs which fund student exchanges between Egypt and the US would be expanded. He also said that USAID would participate in a number of programs aimed at providing services directly to Egyptian citizens, particularly in the fields of education and health. Cutting USAID money to unregistered Egyptian NGOs has been largely viewed as negatively affecting human rights promotion in the most populous Arab nation. “Under the Obama Administration, the US government acquiesced to demands from Egypt and Bolivia to eliminate all funding for independent civil society,” Washington-based Freedom House said in a statement in April. The cuts in US democracy funding for Egypt have been widely perceived as an act ripe with political messages rather than negative financial impact. Those messages are defining the Obama administration's relation with Egypt, two years after the US president took power. “The problem is not financial. The problem is in the political message behind this decision,” Bahey Eddin Hassan, director of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies told Al-Masry Al-Youm. “This decision means direct support for the ruling regime in Egypt.” According to the US Embassy in Egypt, US bilateral assistance in the 2009 fiscal year was reduced from US$415 million to US$200 million, of which US $5 million are allocated to civil society organizations. Additional funding for civil society is granted through other sources such as the Middle East Partnership Initiative and the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. Law 84/2002 stipulates that the Ministry of Social Solidarity must endorse any external funding received by registered NGOs. For Hassan, the US move granting the Egyptian government veto power over local organizations receiving funds legitimizes the state's on-going day-to-day intervention in NGOs' work. “The effect may extend to other governments in the region which will follow the Egyptian interventionist model in dealing with NGOs,” he said. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
