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Eliminate Unnecessary Barriers to Legitimate Charitable Work |
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I. The Problem: At a time when the humanitarian aid and development programs and conflict resolution and human rights training offered by charities and foundations are needed the most, the combined effect of two U.S. laws has made it far more difficult for nonprofits to provide critical international aid and services. Rather than distributing aid on the basis of where the need and potential for positive impact are greatest, current counterterrorism measures have caused some nonprofits to avoid the very global hotspots that would benefit the most from their work. Indeed, in some cases these measures have damaged charities’ relationships with the communities they serve, damaging the international goodwill and promise for stability that these relationships had helped to create. These laws are the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) of 1996, amended by the USA PATRIOT Act, which bars material support for terrorism, and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which allows the government to designate U.S. charities as supporters of terrorism based on secret evidence and lacks due process protections. Funds of designated charities are frozen indefinitely.[i] |
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Appendix (National Security and Charities) |
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