Azerbaijan: Human rights defenders organisations face arbitrary denial of registration under proposed amendments to law on NGOs

Front Line is concerned by proposed amendments to the law on Non-Governmental Organisations (Public Associations and Foundations), which were submitted by the office of the President to Parliament for approval on 8 June 2009. The Parliamentary Committee on Legal Policy adopted the amendments on 9 June 2009. These amendments contain shortcomings and, if approved by Parliament, will violate principles of freedom of association enshrined in international treaties to which Azerbaijan is party.

Further Information

The proposed amendments establish an obligation on all public associations to be officially registered and give state officials the power to deny registration of human rights organisations on ill defined grounds. The ambiguous character of these provisions could be used to legitimize arbitrary denial of registration.

One of the proposed amendments stipulates that national NGOs cannot receive more than fifty percent of their funding from abroad, although currently the main source of funding for many national NGOs does in fact come from international sources due to the lack of local funding. If these amendments are adopted in their current form, they could have an extremely negative impact on the development of civil society in Azerbaijan.

On 11 June 2009, Azerbaijan NGOs working in various sectors created the Civil Society Defense Committee to campaign for the rejection of the proposed amendments.

The Civil Society Defense Committee believes that this series of amendments challenges the right to freedom of association as set out in the country’s Constitution and the various conventions on human rights that (Azerbaijan) is party to. The amendments are also at odds with the obligations undertaken before the Council of Europe and OSCE, the entire philosophy of civil society and the goal of the “Non-governmental Organisations State Support Concept” signed by President Ilham Aliyev on 13 December 2007.

The International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, an expert organisation that promotes an enabling legal environment for civil society around the world, published an analysis which concluded that the proposed amendments to the NGO Law in Azerbaijan are a step backwards in building the civil and democratic society. Many other international human rights NGOs including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Article 19, International PEN and Freedom House have also publicised their concern in relation to these proposed amendments.

In its statement published on 16 June 2009, the Council of Europe stated that the proposed changes to legislation may create serious obstacles for the freedom of expression and normal functioning of the civil society in Azerbaijan. On 17 June 2009, the Head of the OSCE office in Baku, Ambassador Bilge Cankorel, also expressed his concern in relation to this issue.

The discussion in the Azerbaijan Parliament on the proposed amendments to the law on NGOs has been postponed until 30 June 2009.

Front Line is deeply concerned about the possible impact that these amendments could have if adopted and believes that they contradict international standards on freedom of association and the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the European Convention on Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, to which Azerbaijan is party.

The analysis of the proposed amendments to the law on NGOs, carried out by the International Center for Not for Profit Law, is attached.

The joint Press Release issued by a group of international NGOs are attached.