LNR Will Refuse to Extend Accreditation to NGOs that Commit “Gross Violations”

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Today, Acting Deputy Chairman of the LNR Council of Ministers Vasili Nikitin, head of the Commission on Accreditation of Foreign Humanitarian Organisations, said that the LNR government intends to refuse accreditation to those international NGOs that grossly violate their mandate. This was in reply to a statement by European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides, who noted that the LNR government decision to deny accreditation to the ten humanitarian organisations “would have a very negative impact in humanitarian terms on the civilian population and lead to the suspension of humanitarian operations”. In addition, Stylianides threatened, “All those who have influence should allow these groups to immediately resume much-needed humanitarian operations in Lugansk Oblast (sic), to fulfil their obligations under international humanitarian law”. Nikitin observed:

We only denied accreditation to those organisations that violated the rules and conditions of their mandate in the LNR. Primarily, flagrant abuses by medical groups led us to deny international NGOs accreditation. For instance, take “Doctors without Borders”. We allowed the Red Cross to resume operations after granting them accreditation. As for other NGOs, many of them don’t even operate in our jurisdiction; in fact, they’ve rendered little, if any assistance. A case in point is the Norwegian Union of Refugees; for all the time that they spent here, they didn’t provide us with a single nail or a single kilo of food. However, if we deny accreditation to a group, it needn’t be permanent. According to our regulations, they can reapply for accreditation in three months. We’d cooperate with any international organisation, but only if they comply with the rules and requirements of our Republic, according to our laws, stipulations; they have to consider this… this applies to all institutions, without exception.

Earlier, Nikitin noted that the LNR rejected 10 of 11 applications filed by foreign NGOs for accreditation. The only foreign non-profit NGO that received LNR accreditation was the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). In addition, the Commission on Accreditation, together with the LNR MGB and other law enforcement bodies conducted inspections of foreign non-profit NGOs that uncovered significant violations.

28 September 2015

LITs Lugansk Information Centre

http://lug-info.com/news/one/lnr-otkazala-v-akkreditatsii-tolko-gumorganizatsiyam-dopustivshim-grubye-narusheniya-7105

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