CPDC unhappy with restrictions on charities, de-listing

With Government moving ahead with its plans for increased oversight of local charities, the regional umbrella body for NGOs warned today the measures could deter people from engaging in civic responsibility.

Officer in Charge at the Caribbean Policy Development Centre (CPDC) Richard Jones told Barbados TODAY that many of the stipulations, which are largely the dictates of international anti-money laundering watchdogs, would almost inevitably result in non-compliance.

He has therefore called on governments across the region to exercise balance when implementing these policies, noting that this is not a problem unique to Barbados.

Jones said: “We believe that yes, there is a need for standards, but we have noticed recently that Government has taken certain actions with the de-listing of some NGOs and we believe that this process was unfortunate.

“We believe that all parties need to go about this process in a very careful and structured manner.

“We saw the report on Barbados from the Financial Action Task Force that Government regulation on NGOs was not where it needed to be, but at the same time Government needs to be cautious in the restrictions that it places on NGOs.”

Last December, Attorney General Dale Marshall announced that the days of charities governing themselves with little to no oversight are over, declaring a “new world” required greater scrutiny of their financial affairs.

Fearing the possibility of being blacklisted for lax international anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism enforcement, the Minister said Government is taking steps to ensure that these NGOs are subjected to greater accountability.

Charities will be required to submit their financial reports each year. The submission will include the source of income and associations outside of Barbados. Failure to comply could lead to the charities being de-listed.

Efforts earlier this year to gather this information have yielded little results and the time has come for Government to have a firmer hand, Marshall declared.

He said then: “We risk effectively being blacklisted in the international arena and the significance of this is that this blacklisting would likely result in the loss of correspondent banking to Barbadian financial institutions.

“This is not idle conjecture because in the past, the Caribbean region had about 20 correspondent banks, now we are just under 15.”

Since the announcement, several charities have been struck from the Corporate Registry.

But Jones insisted that Caribbean governments cannot blindly follow the one-size-fits-all demands of international agencies.

He told Barbados TODAY: The NGOs themselves are going to have to do some push back because some of these measures have the ultimate impact of forcing some of these NGOs not to comply, as most of them are donor-based and would be unable to fund the measures that are needed.

“Let’s say a number of persons in a neighborhood want to do a park so they form an NGO and raise the money.

“Are we going to tell them that before they can mobilise that money to build the park, they must first do an audit?

“Will persons be willing to engage in such civic activity if we are placing such restrictions on them?”

Jones said the CPDC has a system in place for monitoring charities and that they were willing to assist governments in this regard.

He added: “There needs to be some flexibility and it needs to be an issue that our regional heads need to take on.
colvillemounsey@barbadostoday.bb