Indonesia

In Indonesia, various restrictions are placed by the authorities on the freedom of association, in particular concerning the registration of civil society organizations. Although Indonesia is a state party to the ICCPR, its legal framework is still not fully aligned with international standards. For example, the Law on Mass Organisations No. 17/2013 (UU Ormas) amended by Perppu No. 2/2017 and ratified as Law No. 16/2017 sets out mandatory registration of all organisations with the Ministry of Home Affairs or Ministry of Law and Human Rights, which could be used to deny legal recognition to organizations critical of the government. Furthermore, under this law the government can unilaterally disband organizations deemed threatening to national unity, ideology, or security using broad and vague justifications, but without any court process. Moreover, registration procedures in Indonesia appear to be quite burdensome, complex, and discriminatory in practice, creating major barriers to the full exercise of freedom of association, including: multiple overlapping laws and authorities, creating legal uncertainty and excessive bureaucracy; numerous bureaucratic and costly requirements; lengthy process time; and vetting by the authority. 

Against this backdrop, freedom of association of certain groups are particularly restricted, such as women, female workers, feminists, LGBTIQ+, indigenous peoples, environmental defenders, land rights defenders, groups calling for the right of self-determination, religious minorities, labour rights activists, among others. While groups without registration cannot open bank accounts and face significant challenges in organising their activities and finding resources, registered organisations are also subject to another type of challenge including surveillance and scrutiny by the authorities, especially those critical of the government, addressing accountability and also those who are receiving foreign funding.

Sri Lanka

Civil society organizations in Sri Lanka are registered under different laws, depending on their purpose and structure. The main laws that regulate the registration of CSOs include Voluntary Social Service Organizations (Registration and Supervision) Act (VSSO Act), Companies Act, Trusts Ordinance, Societies Ordinance, Trade Union Ordinance, and Universities Act. In December 2024, the National Secretariat for Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO Secretariat) which has become the main state institution that monitors and regulates a large number of NGOs operating in Sri Lanka (those registered under the VSSO Act) issued a directive requiring all NGOs operating in Sri Lanka to register exclusively with the NGO Secretariat, including those currently registered under the Companies Act No. 07 of 2007.  

With this new practice, concerns are increasing over the surveillance of CSOs and restriction of the freedom of association, since applications for registration submitted to the NGO secretariat are also shared with the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of External Affairs, and other relevant line ministries, for the purpose of “financial transparency” according to the government, but in practice for vetting purposes. CSOs in Sri Lanka also require formal registration to open and maintain bank accounts. Furthermore, the registration procedure is a complex and time consuming process involving burdensome bureaucratic steps and requiring clearance certificates from several Ministries. If this clearance is not given, the registration application is denied. However, reasons for failing the clearance are not given and there is no appeal process.

As such, the current system of CSO registration in Sri Lanka is also arbitrarily restricting the freedom of association of certain groups, such as ethnic and religious minorities, Malaiyaha community, Christians attending ‘home’ or ‘house’ churches, workers in the Free Trade Zones (FTZs), LGBTIQ+ community, and young women and girls in particular those within minority and marginalised groups. 

Human Rights Committee’s General Comment No.38

Final reports of the analysis of Indonesia and Sri Lanka will be published soon by CCPR and its project partners, together with reports from 7 other countries in MENA, Latin America and Africa. The findings of the analysis of these 9 countries indicate that the freedom of association is increasingly restricted and violated in various ways in all countries and that this issue is at the core of shrinking civic space. As a similar tendency can be observed in a number of countries worldwide, announcement of the Human Rights Committee to develop its new General Comment No.38 on the Article 22 of the ICCPR comes at a very crucial time and the new GC will serve as a pivotal tool to protect the right to freedom of association in a more effective way.