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-
Politics
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Armenia is not against the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group, but does not consider it appropriate to discuss this issue now. "In the context of peace, we consider it possible to make a decision on the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group. When peace is an established fact, the existence of such a format may raise questions," Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at a press conference today. "The whole question is about the timing, we need to understand how effectively and correctly to turn such topics into a subject of discussion right now," the Armenian Prime Minister added.
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He expressed his willingness to meet with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at the border between the two countries. "A meeting with Ilham Aliyev could take place at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. I am open to such a format," Pashinyan said at a press conference today. According to Pashinyan, Armenia recently presented another proposal for a peace treaty to Azerbaijan.
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On August 31, Azerbaijan observes a "day of silence" before the Sunday’s early parliamentary elections for the unicameral Milli Majlis. All electoral campaigning is prohibited 24 hours before the voting. The early elections were initiated by the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan Party. This decision was motivated by the overlap of the scheduled elections in November with the global UN forum - the COP20 climate conference taking place in Baku.
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On August 30, at approximately 22:55, the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant in Metsamor was disconnected from the country's power grid, as reported by the Armenian Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure. The shutdown was caused by a lightning strike, which triggered the plant's safety systems to switch the station to a safe shutdown mode. Currently, the plant's staff is working on restarting the facility.
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