"ASSNGO is working in the opposite direction"

The Agency for State Support of Non-Governmental Organizations (ASSNGO) has announced the results of large, medium and small grant competitions for 2024. Most of the winners of the competition presented projects related to Western Azerbaijan (the geographical area on the territory of the current Republic of Armenia, where the Azerbaijanis of Armenia once lived compactly.)  The projects are called "As part of the process of returning to West Azerbaijan." According to the project of the process of returning to West Azerbaijan, a total of 311050 manats of grant funds were allocated to public associations. The Agency for State Support of Non-Governmental Organizations has allocated grants to 413 organizations.

Most of the major grant projects have been submitted for discussion on social media and have been criticized, ASTNA  was told by the deputy chairman of the Institute of Civil Rights, Samir Kazimli.

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Question: The ASSNGO has announced the results of large, medium and small grant competitions for 2024.  Most of the winners of the competition presented projects related to Western Azerbaijan. Most of the major grant projects were discussed and criticized on social media. What do you think about it? Is it really counterproductive to allocate budget funds for such projects?

Answer:  First of all, I would like to note that the space for public discussions in the country is very limited, mainly discussions are conducted on social networks. Recently, the authorities have updated the topic of Western Azerbaijan. There are such sensitive topics that should not be in the nature of a campaign and propaganda and turn into an object of ridicule in society. But, unfortunately, as a result of the wrong policy of the authorities, this happens. The problems of Azerbaijanis who were resettled from Armenia and became refugees should remain in the spotlight, and steps should be taken in this direction by the state and the public.  It goes without saying. But against this background, we should not forget about other problems of the country.

If we leave aside the problems in other regions of Azerbaijan and highlight only the topic of Western Azerbaijan, this can cause discontent among people and spill over into social networks.  Some people, including government officials, may think and say that the topic of Western Azerbaijan is currently relevant to Azerbaijani society and needs to be paid attention to. Therefore, I do not want to dwell on the names of the projects, but rather delve more into the essence of the issue, into the mechanisms of its implementation. The question arises: how effective will these projects be, will the project executors be able to achieve their goals and objectives? What are the goals and objectives of such projects in general? In fact, in order to find answers to these questions, after the discussions and accusations that began on social networks, public discussions had to take place. Unfortunately, this did not happen. There was no, as I said above, because the space for public discussion was very limited. If citizens ask questions on social networks, make comments, criticize the funds allocated from the state budget for any projects, they should be given intelligible answers. If a public discussion is not organized about the comments and criticism that arise, or if officials do not speak to the public with reasonable explanations, then the benefits of implementing these projects are already in doubt. While there are many problems in the country and the government needs to allocate funds to eliminate them, funds from other sources and partly from the government can be attracted for the implementation of such projects. Then the state will be able to allocate budgetary funds to solve other tasks facing it. For example, these funds can be used to solve the problems of war disabled people who come to state institutions with their complaints and wait days for admission.

In general, there are issues that the government is responsible for solving. There are also issues that need to be left to the discretion of the society and create conditions for this. At the same time, a public order should be received on these issues. Initiatives and work have been undertaken by individuals and groups in connection with Western Azerbaijan in previous years. I have no doubt that Azerbaijani businessmen working both in the country and abroad can allocate funds in the form of donations for projects that the ASSNGO allocates in connection with Western Azerbaijan. In this case, better and more interesting initiatives may also appear. But for this, human rights and freedoms must be ensured in the country, so that a strong civil society, a good business environment, and entrepreneurial activity arise in the country. In this case, the state will not need to allocate too much money to socially significant issues. If there is a strong civil society and a strong institution of entrepreneurship, it is not necessary to allocate so much money from the state budget for socially significant affairs.  Unfortunately, the government always strives to ensure that all issues are under its control and proceed as it wants. And that she thereby propagandized herself. It is also a suppression of initiative. In addition, it is wrong to shift everything to the state, the state budget. It is necessary to give way to initiatives and conduct propaganda in this direction.

Question: Which projects can be more productive?

Answer: There are so many problems in the country that projects on most topics can be considered productive. But here it is necessary to start a discussion about who will implement these projects, how they will be implemented and for what purposes these projects have been transferred to these people, and not about the topic or projects. Therefore, we should look back at previous years to see what problems in society were solved by the projects of the NGO Council, and then, created on its basis, the ASSNGO? Or what was useful for the society? If these projects solved the problems of a particular topic and were useful, then why did the problems get even worse?

The ASSNGO has also been active for several years. In order to prevent such a situation from occurring as in the NGO Council, and also because funds for these projects are allocated from the state budget, the ASSNGO must report to the public on the implementation of projects, their impact on society and problem solving. Open press conferences should be held and answers to all media questions should be given, and not some ostentatious statements and interviews with pro-government media. But we don't see that. If there is no accountability to society, then the effectiveness of projects should not be expected.

I think there is a great need for projects related to the protection of freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, association, electoral and property rights. But you can't see them in the topics announced by the ASSNGO. Because they don't think that there are problems in these areas. But the root of all evil lies in the presence of problems in these areas.

Question: How do you assess the activities of the ASSNGO? Is there a need for such an agency? What are the goals and objectives of this agency?

Answer: Instead of supporting NGOs, the authorities should create conditions for more NGOs to function normally. To do this, the authorities must eliminate the reactionary changes introduced into the legislation related to NGOs, not make NGOs dependent on themselves for political purposes, encourage citizens and businessmen to donate to NGOs, create opportunities for the activities of international donor organizations in Azerbaijan and put an end to repression against independent NGOs. Unfortunately, we see the opposite.

Naturally, in Azerbaijan, as in other countries, the existence of a donor organization in the field of NGOs is a normal phenomenon. But it should be noted with regret that both the NGO Council and the ASSNGO created on its basis were established not to develop the NGO sphere, but in order to prevent its development.

Above, I have noted several directions for the development of NGOs. Have you seen the ASSNGO take the initiative on any of them and achieve results? I didn't see.

In 2021, the ASSNGO launched discussions on NGO issues. It was announced that the problems hindering the activities of NGOs would be eliminated. While participating online in one of these ASSNGO discussions, I made my suggestions. 3 years have passed, the situation has only worsened, a new wave of repression against civil society has begun and there are those arrested.

Recently, a news agency close to the authorities criticized government-controlled NGOs and Public Councils. Frankly speaking, I do not know why this critical article appeared, for what purpose it was written. For many years, these criticisms have been voiced by representatives of independent civil society, but they have not been given any importance. On the other hand, independent representatives of civil society who made this criticism were called black forces.

I believe that at this stage, Azerbaijani society needs a strong, internationally recognized civil society. However, the ASSNGO does not work in this direction, but in the opposite direction. Because the ASSNGO is under the influence of political power. The ASSNGO pursues the same policy, keeping the NGOs to which it provides projects under its influence. In this case, it is difficult to talk about efficiency and productivity.

When we look at the list of winners of the latest ASSNGO grant competition, it turns out that most of the existing NGOs are not recognized both abroad and  in the country, and it is unclear what their activities are. Of course, there are socially recognized NGOs among the winners. But there are very few of them. There are those among them whom I know personally and am familiar with their activities. I think that if freedoms are granted, some NGOs receiving grants from the ASSNGO can do something useful for society.

Unfortunately, these grants are also provided to limit freedoms.

Question: Recently, some NGO leaders have propsoed transferring control of Public Councils (PC) to the ASSNGO. For example, Novella Jafaroglu says that control over the funds allocated by the PC ministries should be transferred to the ASSNGO. Is this offer productive?

Answer: As already mentioned, the ASSNGO can do nothing to create normal conditions for the activities of NGOs. The authorities have created this body to control their NGO sector. In such a situation, the control of the specified agency over the PC will not lead to positive changes. How can the control of the PC, carried out by a structure that is under the control of the government from a socio-political point of view, give a positive result? In such a situation, there can be no positive changes. In fact, NGOs need an independent PC that will control the Agency itself.

Question: Do we need public councils at all?

Answer: In order to exercise public control over state structures, PC formed by civil society are necessary. In fact, there is only the name of the PC, but they themselves do not exist, they exist formally.  One of the most serious problems in the country is the absence of independent mechanisms of public control over State bodies. These are formal, government-appointed councils. In this case, that is, in the absence of public control over them, state bodies are more prone to arbitrariness. And citizens suffer from this. 

It is obvious that the existence of real PC is not beneficial to the government, and for this reason independent representatives of civil society are not allowed to join the PC.

In 2021, for the purpose of verification, I ran for the public council of one of the state structures. As I expected, I was not allowed to join the public council. It became clear to me once again that the authorities do not want to see independent representatives of civil society in public councils. For this reason, reports on the holding of elections to public councils are often not widely disseminated.  In addition, the nomination of candidates to public councils, the electoral process itself is carried out in such a way that the presence of fairness and transparency in it is questionable.

In order for independent representatives of civil society to be represented in public councils, first of all, there must be political will. This is currently not the case.

Question: How should the work of NGOs, Agencies, and PC be organized so that they are effective? What do you suggest for this?

Answer: In order for the PC to be effective, the policy of the authorities must change, the barriers created for the activities of civil society must be eliminated, conditions created for the emergence of a strong civil society in the country and the representation of independent representatives of civil society in the PC.

Unfortunately, today we see the opposite in this area.