A/HRC/6/17 page 14 financing of terrorism. This has a continuing chilling effect on charity work, as potential donors and charity administrators fear that their actions will be classified as material support to terrorism, even retroactively.24 43. Charities are often involved in activities and projects that enhance the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights. Hence, obstacles on charity work may often have a direct negative impact on the enjoyment of these and other human rights. 44. In the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the independent Charity Commission has opened 20 inquiries into charity organizations, most of them related to Islam in some way, allegedly having links with terrorism. The Commission states that the abuse of charities by terrorists is rare. One of the Commission’s tasks is to promote compliance with charity regulations in order to make charities less vulnerable to abuse by terrorist organizations.25 45. The Canadian Anti-Terrorism Act (bill C-36) prohibits the delivery of humanitarian assistance to zones of conflict where terrorist organizations are suspected of profiting from the assistance. One such zone is Northern Sri Lanka, where the needs of the poor, the marginalized and the displaced are the greatest. In this specific case, Canadian aid workers who have contacts with individuals and local organizations related to the Tamil Tigers run the risk of openly contravening the Act, accused of association with a terrorist organization. The Tamil Tigers, who control much of the affected area, are listed as a terrorist entity. Canadian donors who contribute to, for example, the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization, run a similar risk because that organization has helped victims in areas where the population is mainly Tamil, and the Tigers control much of the territory.26 The work of many national and international charity employees is also made difficult by the Sri Lankan Public Security Ordinance which was adopted in December 2006.27 The law prohibits all activities that might support terrorism, which in practice has made the aid work in Tamil areas risky. 24 Report of OMB Watch on “Muslim Charities and the War on Terror”, 2006, available from www.ombwatch.org. 25 See National Council for Voluntary Organizations, press briefing “Terrorism - charities part of the solution, not part of the problem”, (January 2007), and “Security and Civil Society: the impact of counter-terrorism measures on civil society organizations”, available from www.ncvo-vol.org.uk. 26 See International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group brief to the House of Commons Subcommittee on Public Safety and National Security of the Standing Committee on Justice, Human Rights, Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, April 2005, available from www.interpares.ca/en/publications/pdf/ICLMG_Brief_on_C-36.pdf. 27 Public Security Ordinance (chap. 40), Gazette Extraordinary of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, 6 December 2006, http://documents.gov.lk/Extgzt/2006/Pdf/Dec/1474-5/ 1474-5e.pdf.