Junta minister tells NGOs, INGOs to register

By Admin 15 Sep 2023

DMG Newsroom
15 September 2023, Sittwe
 
Myanmar’s military regime has made it mandatory for domestic nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and their international counterparts (INGOs) conducting humanitarian operations in the country to register, according to junta media.
 
Junta minister Lieutenant General Yar Pyae called on NGOs and INGOs to register at the opening of a workshop on facilitating that registration process held in Naypyitaw on Thursday, junta media reported.
 
“We have to seek the help of associations in working for development of rural areas, border areas and remote areas. Associations must register themselves so that they can provide assistance in line with the law,” Yar Pyae was quoted as saying.
 
NGOs and INGOs need approval from the relevant departments to get registered, according to the regime.
 
The junta’s mandatory registration requirements are expected to pose challenges for aid agencies to provide humanitarian assistance.
 
A member of a Sittwe-based charity said: “We submitted an application for registration some two years ago, and it has not yet been approved. And [the regime] bars even documented charities from travel when people need help.”
 
NGOs, INGOs and civil society organisations operating in Arakan State face restrictions at junta security checkpoints, and their movements are limited by the regime.
 
Some 1.5 million were affected by Cyclone Mocha, which made landfall over Arakan State with destructive force on May 14. More than four months after the storm, some storm-hit areas still do not have access to humanitarian supplies.
 
“The WFP [World Food Programme] has supplied our village with rice once. But we haven’t received any assistance from any other organisations,” said U Htein Thein Maung, the administrator of Thaungdaya village in Rathedaung Township. “We heard they haven’t gotten permission to come here. We want authorities to allow NGOs and INGOs to help freely.”
 
Junta boss Min Aung Hlaing also told his ministers last month to systematically regulate NGOs and INGOs in Myanmar.