Public meeting discusses NGO legislation in Malta

A public dialogue on NGO legislation in Malta was held last Friday at Dar Sarria in Floriana, on the initiative of four Maltese NGOs who came together in 2002 to form the Forum for Justice and Co-operation.

These are the Third World Group, Kopin, Koperattiva Kummerc Gust, and Inizjamed.

The main speakers were Dr Max Ganadom, Michael Gatt and Ludek Sterba. The meeting was chaired by William Grech of Kopin.

Dr Ganado was assigned the task of drafting the Voluntary Organisations Act and is the co-ordinator of a group of three persons asked to draft the law. The other members were former President of the Republic Dr Ugo Mifsud Bonnici and Dr Tony Vella.

Mr Gatt is the co-ordinator of the Maltese National Platform of non-governmental development organisations (NGDOs) and Mr Sterba is an activist from the Czech Republic who has been in Malta for six months working and training with Koperattiva Kummerc Gust.

Dr Ganado illustrated the main principles guiding the drafting of the legislation. However, he stopped short of distributing copies of the draft. A spokesman from the Ministry for Social Policy contacted before the meeting stated that Government is committed to publish the document as a white paper only once the draft legislation would reflect government policy on the subject.

Mr Gatt spoke about the recent parliamentary question presented by the NGDO Platform in the European Parliament intended to press the Maltese government into publishing the draft paper for NGO legislation. He stressed that whenever regulation is justified, it should be prepared in a fully transparent way that maximises public participation in its formulation.

He noted that a 1998 European Council Regulation reaffirms the specific and irreplaceable role of NGOs. However this is still lacking in Malta.

Mr Sterba described the fact that there is no legislation for NGOs in Malta as "unbelievable". He could not imagine how NGOs could exist without it. A recognised NGO could apply for the different grants and projects, and take part in official dealings as a partner. Offices and institutions have the obligation to ask NGOs about different issues and inform them about dealings.

All organisations present agreed that since many Maltese organisations had individually urged one government after another to take up this issue seriously but none had succeeded over a period of more than a decade, it was time to pool their resources in a concerted effort to put pressure on the government to publish the draft as soon as possible. This would set the stage for a public discussion. However, this situation clearly shows the lack of commitment on the part of Government to effectively and systematically consult NGOs in the formulation of a legislative framework that would affect them directly.

To this effect, the representatives of the organisations present agreed to form a core working-group that would draw up principles and ideas that different NGOs believe should form an integral part of the eventual legislation. This working-group would also exert pressure on the government to publish the draft document - the Voluntary Organisations Act.

The participants agreed to establish a forum open to Malta-based NGOs to enable a discussion on all issues related to the recognition and regulation of NGOs in Malta. Any other NGOs interested in joining this forum are to send an e-mail to kopin@malta forum.org.

The organisations represented at the meeting were Ananda Marga, Association of Breastfeeding Counsellors, Breast Cancer Support Group, Centre for Faith and Justice, Friends of the Earth, Ghaqda Malta-Kuba, GWU Youths, Inizjamed, Institute for Maltese Culture, Jesuit Refugee Service, Koperattiva Kummerc Gust, Kopin, National Youth Council, Move Organisation, Moviment Graffiti, Pulse, Soroptimist International of Malta, SOS Malta, the Archaeological Society, the Vegetarian Society of Malta, Third World Group, Voluntary Lay Missionaries, and Zminijietna.