How an Assad-era law is threatening Syrian civil society

Bashar Assad may be gone from Syria, but one of the more damaging laws that existed throughout his family's rule over the country lives on.

Law No. 93 of 1958, or the law on associations and private institutions, was used for decades by the Assad regime — first by Hafez Assad, then by his son Bashar — to control civil society organizations that might be critical of it, whether they were human rights monitors, charities or women's rights groups.

The law allowed the state to simply dissolve organizations for loosely defined reasons, such as disturbing "public order or morals" or deciding there was "no need" for their services, without any judicial oversight or any way to appeal.

The law also gave the government control over an organization's political participation, events it wanted to hold, its joining of international associations, its registration, board members and employees, and even its funding, especially money from abroad.

Basically, the Assad regime used the 1958 law and subsequent additions to it "to completely deny Syrian citizens the right to freedom of association," a 2016 submission to the United Nations Human Rights Council explained.

'Designed to control, restrict and securitize'

The regime was ousted at the end of 2024. But — despite the new, interim Syrian government's stated plan to repeal it — Law No. 93 is still in effect. Late last year, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor announced that for the time being, Syrian civil society organizations should adhere to it.

There are thought to be over 2,000 different civil society organizations working in Syria today, and many have called for the law to be repealed and for new rules to be formulated.

"Laws designed to control, restrict and securitize civil society do not become benign simply because the political leadership changes," said Amna Guellali, research director at the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, or CIHRS, which published a study on the state of civil society in Syria in October last year. "Their continued presence on the books creates a standing legal toolset that can be activated at any time."

The CIHRS reached out to the Syrian government recommending the law be repealed, but said they had no response. A query from DW asking when the law might be repealed also went unanswered. 

Law used randomly

So far, though, the law appears to have been applied rather randomly, Hiba Ezzideen, head of Syria-based organization Equity and Empowerment which focuses on women's rights, told DW.

That's confirmed by the dozens of interviews the CIHRS did with civil society actors for their report. They told the CIHRS that sometimes the law is used, other times decisions are simply made orally, usually with little explanation. For example, one group told the CIHRS, an event on transitional justice in the Syrian capital, Damascus, was canceled unexpectedly but then similar events were allowed to go ahead later.

The Syria Campaign, a UK-based rights organization, has heard similar stories — for example, where local authorities have required they be involved in who gets hired by civil society organizations.

"We've also had reports about restrictions on meetings, especially by political movements," the organization's executive director, Razan Rashidi, said, "although we can't say it's been a pattern for all meetings of such nature."

Sign of authoritarianism

As a result of all the confusion, there's a question that keeps coming up: Are these obstructions deliberate policy by Syria's interim government, a possible sign the country is heading back toward authoritarianism?

"We want to have hope, we want to believe this isn't deliberate," said the founder of a Syrian human rights monitor, speaking to DW off-the-record because they're still trying to register in Syria. "We know that the state doesn't have full control of everything. But it seems unnecessarily complicated and with what we've seen happening last year, it's just so hard to know," they explained, referring to recent intercommunal violence that government forces played some part in.

"It's true there is complexity and bureaucracy. They [the government] should be more transparent and this law does need to be changed," said Fadel Abdul Ghany, head of the Syrian Network for Human Rights, or SNHR, which has been reliably documenting abuses on all sides since the beginning of Syria's civil war. "But that happens everywhere. We also faced difficulties registering our organization and were unable to open a bank account in France," he explained.

SNHR is now registered in Syria, works freely and is able to be critical of the state, Abdul Ghany said. And he pointed out that it was important to consider context.

"Syria is still devastated from conflict and look at what we inherited from the Assad regime — corruption, lack of funding, lack of experience, destroyed institutions," he told DW. "I've met with ministers, I've visited the ministries and they all say they want reform. But it's not easy."

Activist: Don't 'jump to conclusions'

Guellali at the CIHRS believes the current problems are due to a combination of factors.

"On one hand, capacity constraints are real," she said. "The interim government is facing challenges … But structural and political factors can't be ignored. The deliberate retention of restrictive Assad-era legislation — including Law No. 93 — raises legitimate concerns about political will. Transitional authorities committed to democratic inclusion typically prioritize early legal reforms that enable civic participation and protect associational freedoms."

Women's rights activist Ezzideen agreed. "What we are most likely seeing is the result of multiple factors and it's important not to jump to conclusions about intentions," she told DW. "But that doesn't negate the need to address those challenges clearly and systematically." 

Observers often say Syria's civil society organizations are an essential part of the country's transition out of autocracy.

"Civil society, whether in exile or inside the country, plays a vital role in keeping the struggle for freedom, justice and inclusivity in Syria alive," said Rashidi from The Syria Campaign. Despite the criticisms about rules and lack of reform, she noted that "since the fall of the Assad regime, many civil society actors, including victims' groups, were able to officially open offices in Syria — that's like a dream come true."

Having gained experience over 14 years of civil war, such groups are able to provide aid and services, help strengthen social cohesion and, because of strong community links, should be called upon to help formulate Syrian public policy, she argued.

"The real challenge today," Ezzideen concluded, "is to ensure that this current, temporary situation does not become a permanent pattern. Continued delay [of reform] could — even unintentionally — take us backwards." 

Edited by: A. Thomas