Azerbaijan needs the Information Ombudsman Institution - expert

Baku/11.02.21/Turan: Government agencies provide very little information on the expenditure of budgetary funds and other financial resources. They often refuse to answer information requests, an expert in the field of media law Alesker Mammadli said in an interview with the Azerbaijani service of the Voice of America.

The research entitled "Information transparency of government agencies and the situation with access to information" was prepared based on the results of a 10-month monitoring of over 170 websites of government agencies, including 81 central executive authorities. Government agencies only in one case out of three respond to requests from journalists, the study noted. Government agencies are obliged to create websites and post 34 different types of information there.

During the monitoring, the information to be published was classified into three groups - the most disclosed, moderately disclosed and little disclosed, Mammadli said commenting on the study.

Least of all, government agencies disclose data on the use of budgetary funds and other financial resources, on the results of tenders. The volume of such information is only 5% of the published information.

To what extent does Azerbaijan's legislation on information transparency comply with the country's international obligations? Answering this question, Mammadli said that when legislation on information was adopted in 2005, it was generally in line with the obligation assumed by Azerbaijan. However, later, certain restrictions were introduced related to the facts of refusal to request information, narrowing the legal framework for disclosing information.

This is unacceptable from the point of view of the country's international obligations, especially taking into account the conventions. At the same time, control over ensuring the rights of citizens to information has been transferred to the institution of the human rights ombudsman, who has not taken any real steps for 8 years after that.

When asked whether it is necessary to create an ombudsman institution for information issues in Azerbaijan, Mammadli answered: “I think so. This has already been provided for in the legislation. The exclusion of this provision from the law in 2012 was wrong. For the ombudsman, and so has a wide range of powers. Assigning additional responsibilities to him in a specific area does not fit his profile or workload. ”

On the websites of departments, there are sections for citizens' appeal, and there are no forms for submitting electronic requests. However, these are completely different things. An appeal can be a statement, a request for the provision of some services, and a response to it is given within 30 days.

A request for information requires a response on the specific topic requested, which must be given within 7 days. “During the monitoring, we sent inquiries to 56 structures and received full answers from only 15, that is, 265. There were no responses to the rest of the inquiries,” Mammadli said.

There was a case when a journalist made a request to the Executive Power of the Kurdamir region. After that, there was an attack on his family. Subsequently, the head of the area was arrested on corruption charges.

When a journalist goes to the courts with complaints about the refusal of requests, they face pressure. In general, the courts rule in favor of government agencies. In  some cases, the courts satisfied the claims, and one of them was the court's decision, which obliged the state body to answer for the request of the Turan agency, Mammadli noted. — 16D06-