The US Secretary of State assistant for Near Eastern Affairs, Barbara Leaf, urged during her meetings in Tripoli and Benghazi the rapid adoption of a modern civil society law that meets international best practices to replace Law 19, according to a statement by the US Embassy in Libya.
The embassy said in a tweet Tuesday that the US Secretary of State official "was encouraged to hear from leaders that civil society organizations and non-governmental organizations would be able to operate normally pending adoption of a new law."
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah permitted local and foreign non-governmental organizations to continue their work in Libya, provided they correct their legal status.
He deemed the organizations’ role as an important factor that ensures complementarity and exchange of roles with the state.
It may be worth noting that the Law Department of the Supreme Judicial Council issued, on March 8, a an opinion declaring the illegitimacy of civil society institutions and NGOs in Libya, which the stakeholders rejected, insisting that such a decision was illegal and non-binding.
