Turan Information Agency, Azerbaijani Opposition Press
November 1, 2018 Thursday
USAID States Serious Decline of Civil Society in Azerbaijan
Baku / 01.11.18 / Turan: The state of civil society in Azerbaijan
continues to deteriorate in all indicators over the past three years.
The government continues to arbitrarily intervene in the activities of
NGOs, harass human rights activists and political activists, prohibit
activists from going abroad and freeze their bank accounts. This is
stated in the USAID Sustainability Report on Civil Society Structures
in the World.
This government"s approach to civil society continued to create
problems for Azerbaijan"s participation in international structures.
In March 2017, Azerbaijan announced its withdrawal from the Extractive
Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) after the country was
excluded from the EITI Board in October 2016 for failing to create
normal conditions for civil society.
Among the factors hampering the civilian sector of the country is
indicated the negative legal environment, which over the past year has
become even tougher with the introduction of restrictions on financial
transactions and legal services.
The so-called "NGO case", initiated against several foreign and local
NGOs in 2014, has not yet been closed, although the law prohibits
keeping criminal cases open for more than nineteen months.
The government continued to use this case to harass and interrogate its critics.
Almost all independent NGOs report constant surveillance. Some
representatives of NGOs and the media face a ban on foreign travel,
and many (about 20 people) are subjected to a humiliating search every
time they cross the border.
The actual ban on receiving foreign grants remains in force, because
the Ministry of Justice refuses to register them.
Three years ago, the rules for registration of foreign NGOs in
Azerbaijan were tightened, after which many people left the country
and could not return because of the refusal to register.
More than 50 international organizations have closed their offices
over the past few years, including all major projects funded by USAID
and the European Union. Therefore, two thirds of independent NGOs in
Azerbaijan have suspended their activities, and the rest exist only on
paper.
State funding is, in fact, the only remaining source of grants for
local NGOs, but independent NGOs do not receive state funding.
The country's media are in a similar situation against the background
of a strong restriction of freedom of speech in the country. The media
is largely dependent on government support. Awards, grants, medals and
even apartments to loyal media representatives are issued by the
government, which indicates control over the press.
Critical media and individual journalists are persecuted and accused
by the authorities of working for the West and for Armenians, accused
of treason and labeled as "fifth column".
Some government media, such as Haqqin.az, have even gained a
reputation as a "messenger of trouble" because, as a rule, the
activists they write about are subject to further questioning and
prosecution several days later.
The government also effectively uses social media as a tool for
further pressure on human rights defenders and activists, journalists
and especially those who continue to work with the international
community. Authorities hack their accounts and use an army of trolls
against them.
Summing up the analysis, the authors of the report put Azerbaijan on
the last place among the CIS countries as a civil society. -02D-
