Looks like an important registration date has passed for NGO registration in Russia and it's impacted 33 adoption agencies as well as organizations like Doctors Without Borders (the Belgian office), Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International.

Ouch.


Here's the article in the NY Times, if you want to read the whole thing for yourself. You have to register, though, so I'll give you the lowdown.

Basically, it sounds like these organizations are getting caught up with the NGO law that affected so many adoption agencies earlier in the year. Why many of the adoption agencies were able to get their paperwork in order and become NGO compliant fairly quickly after losing that status and these other organizations weren't, I'm not sure.

Some critics think that it's because some of the agencies, like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, etc., have been critical of the Kremlin. Russian officials claim that's not so.

The Justice Ministry, which is responsible for registering foreign private organizations, insisted that the suspensions were neither retaliatory nor permanent.

It issued a statement saying the suspended organizations had not properly filed new registration materials or had submitted the required materials on the last day before the registration deadline, which was midnight on Wednesday. It said it was rushing to review the applications it had received.

Who knows what the truth is? I only hope that the agencies and organizations that don't have NGO status regain it quickly.

If you want to check on agencies' accreditation and NGO status, go to the website of the American Embassy in Moscow and scroll down to the very bottom. Apparently it is very up-to-date.