Comments on Proposed Charity Regulations

Orda.kz put together a synopsis of opinions on the Ministry of Culture's proposed charity regulations. 

Old Habits Die Hard

Svetlana Ushakova, head of the Public Foundation's Institute of National and International Development Initiatives, was the first to sound the alarm. 

On Facebook, she discussed joining the working group under the Committee on Civil Society Affairs of the Ministry of Culture and Information, where the project is being discussed. 

The drafters seemingly had noble motives: protection from fraudsters and combating criminal groups financing terrorism. 

These amendments concern the implementation of the eighth recommendation of the FATF (the international organization for combating the financing of terrorism). The FATF's activities affect non-profit organizations, including charities, which may be vulnerable to terrorist financing. This recommendation was adopted after the events of September 11, 2001, and was then reviewed in 2016 and in 2023 to reduce and prevent adverse understanding of this recommendation by national governments and ensure the protection of rights and freedoms, Svetlana Ushakova clarified.

As Ushakova noted, the amendments, in their current form, can lead to excessive control over charitable organizations. The measures proposed could create barriers to charity's development.

The drafters propose introducing a ban on individuals collecting funds for charitable purposes.

The main risk is that the amendments practically deprive ordinary people of the opportunity to directly help other people in emergency or life-threatening situations. These changes will affect not only those who need support, but also the donors themselves, limiting their right to help in the form in which they can offer it now,noted Svetlana Ushakova. 

Another provision is the introduction of mandatory accreditation for charitable organizations. 

People can then send donations only to accredited charitable organizations that have received a permit from a government agency. 

This means that not every existing charity will be allowed to operate. Organisations without accreditation will not be able to accept donations. Moreover, even accredited organisations will only be able to raise funds after receiving approval from local authorities, which will make the process complex and lengthy, jeopardising prompt assistance, added Svetlana Ushakova.

There are several other proposals:

• Fines for misuse of funds; the amount is up to 200 MCI – 738,400 tenge. 
• Penalties for exceeding the declared collection amount. 
• Empowering local executive bodies to monitor the collection of funds. 
• A requirement to notify the authorized body about the start and completion of fundraising. 
• In case of emergency, Akimats will determine which organizations can collect aid. 

I often hear that the charity sector in Kazakhstan is 'underdeveloped,' but despite the lack of perks, this sector continues to grow. The number of donations from individuals is increasing, new funds are being created, and this proves that our society is ready to support and develop charity. The question is how legislation can support this process. It is very important to regulate charity in a way that does not create unnecessary obstacles and at the same time protect the sector from fraud. This is not so much a question of legislation as it is a question of the work of law enforcement agencies, Ushakova says.

In her opinion, such government presence should be minimal. Poor legislation can stifle development, leading to an increase in social problems and protest sentiments. 

Meanwhile, the Chair of the Committee on Social and Cultural Development of the Majilis of Parliament, Askhat Aimagambetov, also commented:

Nobody can impose a ban on charitable collections, and I think it's a foolish idea. Bans won't solve anything at all. Charity, on the contrary, needs to be encouraged. The issue is that recently there have been more cases of fraud, when money is collected under various pretexts, and our trusting citizens give it to who knows who. Yes, such a problem exists, it needs to be solved, but through competent regulation and transparent procedures.

When these amendments finally reach parliament, it will most likely be his committee that takes them up. 

Conversely, The Minister of Labor and Social Protection of the Population, Svetlana Zhakupova, spoke about the rational reasoning.

According to her, the idea of ​​creating a single, transparent, and regulated platform for charity has long been circulating in her department. 

We ourselves understand that people sometimes abuse these things - fundraising under the pretext of charity. There is supporting data from the Financial Monitoring Agency. We thought about creating a single platform through which it would be possible to help those who are truly in need with hashed data, that is, not to publish this data, but simply to have the ability to check and confirm through databases that a family, for example, needs support, or that a child really needs costly treatment that he cannot receive in Kazakhstan. So that there is no deception, explained Svetlana Zhakupova.

She admitted that she knows nothing about the bill with amendments and has no idea what the proposals of the Ministry of Culture working group look like. 

While the bill is still in the initial drafting stage, the amendment package is unavailable to the general public. The Minister of Culture stated that it will be put up for public discussion upon completion.

Currently, it is a table with proposals from various government agencies and organizations and is constantly changing. Hopefully, the ministry will listen to the arguments of non-governmental organizations, FATF, and, ultimately, common sense. 

Original Author: Anastasia Prilepskaya

The original article was published on 08/11/24.