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About the Project I Course Information & Syllabi I Country Information I Articles I Discussion Forums |
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Materials for the Course
Download
the Entire Packet in MS Word Format
Required Reading
The Open Society Institute, Guidelines
for Laws Affecting Civic Organizations, 1997
* European Court of Human Rights,
United Communist
Party of Turkey and Others v. Turkey, January 1998
* European Court of Human Rights,
Sidiropoulos
and Others v. Greece, July 1998
* European Court of Human Rights,
Freedom
and Democracy Party v. Turkey, December 1999
* “Model Provisions” for
“Public Benefit” Laws for CEE/NIS
* CEE Tax Survey
Disc
* Freedom of Association, Recent
Developments Regarding the “Neglected Right”
* Select Provision of Human
Rights Instruments
* Select Provisions of Regional
Legislation (“Discussion Examples”)
* Chart on the NGO Legal
Framework
* Chart on NGO Registration
Practices (as of 11/98) (part of paper written for OSCE)
* Charts on Tax Provisions
* Chart on Economic Activities of
NGOs (compiled for the Open Society Institute)
* ICNL paper, “1%
Law in Hungary.”
Optional Reading
* Papers on Economic Activities by NGOs, Public
Policy Activities by NGOs and Public
Benefit Status and Non-Governmental Organizations, from Regulating
Civil Society, proceedings of a conference in Budapest, Hungary, May 1996.
* materials included in this
packet Course
Syllabus
Tuesday,
November 28, 2000
Introduction to “Laws
Affecting NGOs” The
role and purpose of the nongovernment sector
The
relation of laws affecting NGOs to other laws –
International Law (e.g., U.N.
Declaration) Regional Law (e.g., European Convention on Human Rights) Recent
Developments: United
Communist Party of Turkey v. Turkey, Sidiropoulos and Others v.
Greece; Freedom and Democracy Party v. Turkey Assignment:
Guidelines, Chapters 1 and 2 Cases:
Sidiropoulos and Others v. Greece, United Communist Party
of Turkey v. Turkey; Freedom and
Democracy Party v. Turkey Chart
on the NGO Legal Framework Select
Provisions of Human Rights Instruments Freedom
of Association paper Wednesday,
November 29, 2000
Legal
existence of NGOs; registration and operations Benefits
of legal entity status Registration
requirements “Public
benefit” organizations and “mutual benefit” organizations Various
other aspects of the life of an NGO Assignment:
Guidelines, Chapters 3, 6.1 Discussion
Examples: Registration,
Public Benefit Status Chart
on NGO Registration Practices (as of 11/98) (part of paper written for
OSCE)
“Model
Provisions” Articles 1-4, 7-11, 18 Optional
Reading: Paper on Public Benefit
Status and Non-Governmental Organizations, from conference
proceedings, Regulating Civil Society, May 1996 Thursday,
November 30, 2000
Structure
and governance of NGOs
Internal
corporate governance Duties
of governing bodies and management Conflicts
of interest Self-dealing Assignment:
Guidelines, Chapters 4, 5.3. 12; Appendix 2 Discussion
Examples: Internal Governance ‘Model
Provisions” Articles 15, 16/ “Other Selected Provisions” on internal
governance and conflicts of interest Friday,
December 1, 2000
NGO
accountability – reporting and supervision Assignment:
Guidelines, Chapters 8 and 6.4 Discussion
Examples: Reporting Requirements “Model
Provisions” Articles 5, 6, 17 Tuesday,
December 5, 2000
NGOs
and public policy Political
activities Other
NGO-government relations Foreign
NGOs and foreign funding Assignment:
Guidelines,
Chapters 6.2, 10, 11 Discussion
Examples: Political Activities of NGOs “Model
Provisions” Article 13 Optional
reading: Paper on Public Policy
Activities of NGOs, from conference proceedings, Regulating Civil
Society, May 1996. Thursday,
December 7, 2000
Financing
NGOs Fund
raising Economic
activities Nondistribution
constraint Assignment:
Guidelines, Chapters 5, 6.3, 7 Discussion
Examples: Nondistribution
Constraint, Economic Activities of NGOs Chart
on Economic Activities of NGOs (compiled for Open Society Institute, 1999) “Model
Provisions” – look at the “Optional Provision” on nondistribution;
also “Optional Provisions” for “Law on Procurement” Optional
Reading: Paper on Economic
Activities of NGOs, from conference proceedings, Regulating Civil
Society, May 1996 Friday,
December 8, 2000
Taxation of NGOs and their
donors
Tax exemptions
Donor benefits
Corporate social responsibility Assignment:
Guidelines, Chapter 9 Charts
on tax benefits ICNL’s
CEE Tax Survey “Model
Provisions” – look at the “Optional Provisions” on taxation
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