Ibadoglu: Civil Society Forum - a chance for the government

Civil Society Forum will discuss the issues of NGOs, media, and other political prisoners in the Baku International press center on 19 April the under the auspices of the Committee to Protect Civil Society (CPCS.)

The initiator of the Forum is the chairman of the Movement "Democracy and prosperity of Azerbaijan." Gubad Ibadoglu in an interview to «Çatin sual» (www.contact.az) said that the civil society of Azerbaijan is going through a transitional period - after several years of government pressure on the NGOs has been a positive change that is characterized by unlocking the bank accounts of a number of NGOs, the lifting of the ban from the representatives of the civil sector to travel abroad.

Of course, this happens under a high pressure of the international community, the support of which needs today the government of Azerbaijan, which faced with the economic crisis, said Ibadoglu.

He recalled that the government of Azerbaijan has lost positions in two international initiatives - Transparency Initiative in the Mining Industry (EITI) and the Partnership “Open Government” (OGP.) In the EITI in April last year, the country's status was reduced by the candidate to the membership level and OGP in April also recommended lowering the status to the candidate level. All of this threatens the country with the exception of those initiatives. In this case, the government will face even greater problems obtaining international financial support and attracting investments.

In May and June will be meetings of the governing bodies of both initiatives, which will discuss further relations with the government of Azerbaijan.  The OGP Board meeting will be held on May 3-5 in South Africa, EITI – on 1-2 June in Poland. According to Ibadolgu, main claims to the government will be the issues of pressure on NGO, the media, the restoration of civil society, participation on the activities of the government, and particularly in the area of transparency. This is not possible without the removal of all legal and political obstacles, he said.

Ibadoglu also noted that both structures are waiting for an answer to the question why there is still no national plan of action in the field of transparency, and why its preparation is not involved in NGOs. In particular in Warsaw with the participation of more than 100 NGOs and the media will be considered: the state of the law, the issue of political prisoners, the situation of NGOs, the situation of freedom of expression.

At the forum on April 19, we intend to propose to the government to lift restrictions on the activities of NGOs. Restoration work of NGOs in the former regime will have a positive influence on the decisions of international organizations in the field of transparency in Azerbaijan, he said.

Gubadolgu believes reactionary legislation on NGO should be eliminated, and activities of foreign donors should be restored as usual.

Asking the question of how positive can be a reaction to the forum of the government on 19 April, when two years ago after the January NGO Forum began a strong pressure on civil society, Ibadoglu said that civil society is an important part of the state and shall be subject to active participation in all processes.

We understand the complexity of the situation, but the debate should be conducted with the participation of the government to solve the problem, said Ibadoglu, noting that the government should be interested to use this opportunity to restore the confidence of international organizations in the field of transparency. He also noted that the government is not homogeneous, and there are both progressive and conservative-minded people, and it is necessary to establish a dialogue with constructive part.-0-