Due to an absence of competent authorities to petition for approval, a majority of China's grassroots environmental NGOs (non-governmental organization) are operating illegitimately according to a report by the Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims under China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL).

 

The report, focusing on NGOs' actions combating pollution through legal means, called on relevant governmental departments to change the formalities governing the organizations. However, according to sources from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the amended Regulations for the Registration and Management of Social Organizations, still under review, will not change the dual scrutinizing and approval system for NGOs, the Beijing-based Legal Daily reported on June 18.

 

Currently, China's environmental NGOs could be roughly divided into two groups. One is officially organized by professionals, making it easy to obtain legal status; the other, called "grassroots NGO" by the public, is organized by ordinary people, noted Xu Kezhu, associate professor specialized in environmental law and the chief of the report.

 

According to Xu, the current dual scrutinizing and approval system makes it difficult for grassroots NGOs to obtain a legal status. When a certain environmental NGO is undergoing registration, it has to submit approval request to both professional and administrative authorities, which is the dual scrutinizing and approval system. However, a lot of grassroots NGOs can't find an appropriate professional authority, and the civil affairs departments at various levels won't receive their request without the prior approval from professional authorities.

 

Xu said that the lack of legal status is a severe challenge facing grassroots NGOs when they want to use legal means to fight pollution, undermining by a big margin their role in the cause of environmental protection. Most importantly, NGOs without this status leave their actions and interests legally unprotected.

 

A survey on Chinese environmental NGOs conducted by the All-China Environment Federation shows that the total number of environmental NGOs in the country is approaching 2,770 with 224,000 employees. Only 23.3 percent of these organizations have their registration recorded in civil affairs departments.

 

(China.org.cn by Zhang Tingting, June 22, 2007)