BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Amnesty International has joined a boycott of new, mandatory reporting rules for foreign-funded civic groups in Hungary.
The government says the law passed June 13 is meant to increase transparency, but critics see it as an effort to stifle political dissent.
Other civic groups receiving more than around $26,200 a year from abroad, the new reporting threshold, have also said they will refuse to register with the courts and comply with the new regulations.
The law, which went into effect Tuesday, reflects the conflict between Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Hungarian-American financier George Soros, whose ideal of an "open society" is at odds with Orban's desire to turn Hungary into an "illiberal state." Soros' Open Society Foundations support some of the nongovernmental organizations affected by the law.