Amnesty welcomes EU report highlighting ‘chilling effect’ concerns over Irish electoral law

Amnesty International has welcomed an EU report highlighting concerns that the overly broad application of Ireland’s electoral laws is having a chilling effect on human rights organisations.

Amnesty is among a number of non-governmental organisations, including the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, who believe their work is being undermined by a stricter application of the Electoral (Amendment) Act 2001 by the Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPOC).

A new report published by the EU Fundamental Rights Agency notes concerns regarding the vague wording and overly broad application of the Electoral Act, which imposes restrictions and reporting obligations on groups who accept donations over €100 for “political purposes”.

The provision was introduced to regulate political campaign funding, but “political purposes” is very broadly defined and can include the general advocacy work of human rights and other organisations.

Colm O’Gorman, executive director of Amnesty International Ireland, said the report “further underlines our concerns regarding the regulation of civil society organisations across Europe”.

Last November, SIPO instructed Amnesty to return a grant from the Open Society Foundations as it deemed it a “prohibited donation”.

Mr O’Gorman (pictured) said: “Amnesty International believes that SIPO’s decision is unjust. It illustrates that the Electoral Act’s third party provision is a serious threat to civil society rights and freedoms. We do not believe that we are above the law but we cannot simply comply with SIPO’s instruction without first challenging it and the law it is based on. As a human rights organisation, we have a responsibility to challenge a law we believe is unjust, unreasonable and breaches human rights.

“Civil society organisations play a crucial role in democratic societies. They should be free to go about their legitimate work without unnecessary interference from the state. Ireland has, perhaps unintentionally, found itself among a group of countries who are cracking down on civil society groups.

“Indeed, the Electoral Act is at odds with Ireland’s foreign policy objectives. Ireland funds civil society organisations’ advocacy in other countries, and has been actively defending civil society against repressive legislation in Russia, Hungary and Egypt. The Irish government must ensure that these same principles are reflected in its domestic law and regulation of civil society organisations.”