The Paraguayan Parliament approved a transparency law that will make it possible to know the sources of financing of non-profit associations in the country. The initiative was not well received by abortion organizations that receive money from abroad.

The legislative initiative “which establishes the control, transparency and accountability of non-profit organizations” was approved last October 16 by the National Congress, and now awaits the approval of President Santiago Peña.

The new law establishes that these types of associations must be registered in a national registry and must specify, in biannual reports, the origin, use and destination of the funds they receive. Its objective is to ensure transparency in the use of funds and to establish a system of accountability before the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

Amnesty International and local organizations that promote abortion or gender ideology have launched a campaign against the law and, as they did not succeed in changing the vote of the legislators, they ask that it be vetoed by the Executive Branch. They claim that it violates the right of association and could mean the end of some organizations.

Without saying it clearly, they refer, above all, to organizations that receive international funding to promote or practice abortion, which is illegal in the country, except in the case of risk to the mother’s life.

“The approval of this bill is necessary because there are non-governmental organizations that constitute in real structures financed mainly by foreign organizations or international agencies that promote a political and ideological agenda contrary to the laws and customs of our nation,” said lawyer Dannia Rios Nacif, founder of the Movement for Life and Family.

“There are associations that operate as true executing arms of the interests of their funders or of international organizations such as the United Nations and the Organization of American States, or even the European Union, regardless of national interests or local legislation. A clear example is the apology to abortion, which is recognized in our country as a crime, and is presented by them as a right”, she warns.

The spokesperson of the UN Human Rights Office, Marta Hurtado, expressed in July her concern about the advance of the initiative in the Legislative because it “imposes substantial restrictions” on the financing of associations, as well as “additional registration requirements and disproportionate compliance sanctions”.

Several organizations, such as the Citizen Network for Children and Adolescents, made up of 35 citizen organizations, and the Civil Dialogue Forum have asked the President of the Republic to sanction the law.

A statement from the Forum, released on October 23, says that the new law comes at an appropriate time when “transparency is fundamental for democracy and cultural sovereignty of the nation”.