“Charitable associations, foundations, entities or individuals are not allowed to raise donations without permission.” This is what our respectable Cabinet approved recently.
The decision came following its review of a draft law on regulation of charitable activities which includes provisions on collecting donations and transferring money for charitable or humanitarian purposes.
A charity in Qatar relies heavily on support from the rich or companies that are interested in providing charitable support.
Because of this their financial condition fluctuates year after year and this disrupts many of their domestic programmes and activities, whether they are humanitarian projects or projects related to providing financial support to poor families abroad and in Qatar.
The country has been spending huge amounts of money due to the rapid course of events at the Arab, Islamic and international levels.
For years, our charitable societies have been trying to avoid bureaucracy. They try to attract businessmen and companies with modern regulations and laws.
However, this is not enough, as a lot more is required. The field of charitable activity here is witnessing significant development and it needs to deal with major international charities and attract leadership cadres that work to achieve their aims.
The decision of our respectable Cabinet was dictated by the administrative situation of some of our charities.
The third chapter of the cabinet law regarding the financial situation of charities and supervision of their work contains ten articles that prove that expenditure on charitable works is increasing, but without checks and balances.
Studies say that there are more than 1,514,000 charities in the US, 40,000 in Israel and a few thousand in the Arab world. Revenues of charities in the US reach more than QR800bn annually, and the organisations have more than 11,000 employees.
Those with blue eyes turn on Islamic charities and accuse them of supporting terrorism in order to dry up their sources. Therefore, we must comply with the decision of the government, which sees a shortage in detailed information about the income and expenses of our charities.
I hope officials from these charitable organisations cooperate with the authorities and reveal any violations based on the principles of transparency and integrity.
