The Council of Europe and the European Commission have signed a new cooperation agreement to promote human rights, democracy and the rule of law in six Eastern European countries.
The agreement, which is worth €33.8 million and covers the period 2015-2017, will fund joint programmes in countries covered by the EU’s Eastern Partnership programme – namely Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.
It was signed in Brussels on Thursday 18 December by the Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni, and Director Michael Köhler on behalf of the European Commission.
The agreement forms part of a new strategic framework for cooperation agreed by the Council of Europe and the European Commission in April 2014. The significant increase in funding reflects the positive results which have been achieved through such programs in recent years.
It should be noted that the implementation of the EU grant projects in Azerbaijan has become almost impossible after the adoption of amendments to the law on NGOs. For this reason, civil society in Azerbaijan will not be able to take advantage this project. -02D-
Politics
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The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (OPHRD), a joint program of the World Organization against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), has called for the urgent release of activist Rufat Safarov from prison in Azerbaijan. It has launched a campaign in support of the Azerbaijani human rights defender. https://www.omct.org/en/resources/urgent-interventions/arbitrary-detention-and-judicial-harassment-against-rufat-safarov
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This year, the laureate of the annual Nargiz Prize, awarded for efforts in the fight for democracy, was Akif Gurbanov, chairman of the board of the Resplatforma (Platform of the III Republic) movement, who is under arrest.
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The U.S. will prohibit the issuing of visas for nearly a dozen more individuals responsible for undermining democracy in Georgia, bringing the total number to over 100, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.
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The President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, has expressed condolences to the President of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, following the tragic incident in the city of Magdeburg. "We are deeply shocked by the news of the deaths and injuries resulting from the tragic incident that took place at the Christmas market in Magdeburg," the message reads.
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