Policy Brief on the Draft Association Act, 2025 of Nepal

Dados Bibliográficos

ID19485157
AutoresDipendra Kc (0000-0003-1352-026X, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, autor correspondente)
Ano2026
Data de publicação2026-06-03
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoNonprofit Policy Forum (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 2154-3348 • E-ISSN: 2194-6035
EditoraWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/npf-2025-0054
OpenAlexW7163182412
IdiomaEN
Referências citadas17

Nepal’s Draft Association Act, 2025 is the third attempt to regulate civil society organizations (CSOs) under Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s administration. Although the draft responds to legitimate concerns about administrative coherence, accountability, federal alignment, and foreign funding oversight, its chosen instruments are disproportionate to those stated goals, overly centralized, and likely to restrict associational freedom. The analysis examines four key dimensions: establishment and registration, operational scope, state supervision, and resource access. The draft centralizes registration authority under the Ministry of Home Affairs, introduces vague morality clauses enabling arbitrary denials, imposes complex multi-tiered approval processes for foreign funding, and establishes extensive surveillance mechanisms. These provisions disproportionately burden smaller, community-based organizations while undermining Nepal’s federal principles. The brief situates Nepal’s approach within a global pattern of closing civic space and argues that the draft act represents a directional shift toward greater state control of civil society and offers recommendations for creating an enabling environment that balances accountability with organizational autonomy, consistent with constitutional guarantees of associational freedom

Accountability · Civil society · Prime minister · Healthcare Facilities Design and Sustainability · Political Developments and Conflicts · Sociopolitical Dynamics in Nepal