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-