"Ministry asks NGOs to form a working group to discuss Lango", 4 December 2019

The Interior Ministry ... asked representatives of local and foreign NGOs to establish a working group to find a common ground for inputs to be included in the draft amendment to the Law on Associations and Non-governmental Organisations.

Speaking to reporters after the second meeting to review draft Lango amendments ..., Bun Honn, a secretary of state at the ministry, said he suggested two dozen leaders representing 450 NGOs in the meeting to work together and address their shared concerns.

“We want them to unite among themselves and come up with joint proposals. I think they should form a working group and conduct a meeting to agree with what they are going to propose during meetings with our ministry officials,” he said. “We today discussed two articles and representatives of NGOs seem to have different opinions about their requests. It becomes an obstacle to the discussion.”

... Soeng Sen Karuna, spokesman for rights group Adhoc, ... said the proposal was initially raised and drafted by a dozen NGOs, which have encountered challenges in their day-to-day activities...

Sok Sam Oeun, board director of election monitoring Comfrel and legal advisor to Transparency International, said the ministry should collect all inputs from all NGOs representatives and work on it to seek the best solution.

Mr Sam Oeun said that formation of a working group among the nearly 6,000 NGOs would be time-consuming...