Civil Society Forum: Stop dictatorship against NGOs and media

The last Tuesday's forum "The current state of civil society: What to do for a change" in its resolution called on the authorities to eliminate obstacles to the activities of NGOs and the media to civil society to  fully participate in nation-building and development of society. The resolution covers five blocks: legislation, activity conditions, human rights, freedom of speech, of political prisoners problem.

In particular, the resolution calls for review the legislation and to lift restrictions on the activities of NGOs and international donors, as well as to adopt a National Action Plan for dialogue on development programs to create conditions for their harmonious development of civil society institutions.

The document's authors urge to create conditions for the realization of human rights in full, including the cessation of pressure on civil society activists, political functionaries, to stop restrictions on freedom of movement and assembly.

To ensure the sustainable development of freedom of expression and independence of the media, to remove all legal restrictions on freedom of speech and the media, to adopt a law on defamation, release jailed journalists and bloggers, to stop the prosecution of journalists, and to create conditions for the development of a basis for economic independence of the media and others.

The resolution calls for the release of all political prisoners as soon as possible.

The final document reflected the debate that ensued at the forum organized by civil society and the protection of the Committee with the participation of the media, the President's Administration, international organizations and diplomatic missions.

A member of the Public Policy Department of the Presidential Administration Gulsel Safarova denied the existence of problems voiced by the organizers, in particular, she spoke about the absence of political prisoners, the media, and other problems.

Her speech  caused a sharp rebuke to the recent political prisoners - Hilal Mamedov, Avaz Zeynalli, Ogtay Gyulalyev, who stated  the presence of not hundreds, but thousands of political prisoners.

"If we approach the issue from the prism criteria for determining the status of a political prisoner of the Council of Europe, their number amounts to several thousand," said Zeynalli.

Hilal Mamedov called himself as the victim of trumped-up charges and unfair judgment, noting  similar accusations against other journalists and civil society activists.

The head of the Commission for the rights and monitoring under the NGO State Support  Council under the President,  Alimammad Nuriyev,  said that soon the public will be submitted to the National Action Plan in the field of civil sector. He also claimed that the arrest were removed from the bank accounts of a number of NGOs-members of the  Transparency in the extractive industries Coalition,  and  the ban on leaving the country for  a number of civil society activists was lifted, and other issues are resolved.

Gubad Ibadoglu,  a member of the  Transparency Coalition noted that civil society welcomes some positive developments in relation to NGOs. "However, we are waiting for large-scale solutions aimed at removing all the obstacles for NGOs and the media to operate freely," he said.-0-