Refusal of Registration of NGOs - Not Legal, but Political Problem

Refusal to register non-governmental organizations is one of the most serious problems of civil society in the country. Very often, the Ministry of Justice brings totally unreasonable and subjective reasons, and refuses the registration of NGOs, without providing a reasonable explanation. These are the results of the expert opinion held by the public association (NGO) Study of Democracy.

    The project, implemented with the support of the EU, covered 200 NGOs, whose documents the Justice Ministry refused to register.

    As the head of the NGO Study of Democracy, Mirali Huseinov said, many NGOs from 3 to 8 times or more were denied registration, despite the fact that they eliminated the previously revealed "flaws."

    Eloquent testimony to the situation is the statistics of registered NGOs. Thus, from 2006 to 2010 the number steadily decreased. While in 2006 there were 548 registered NGOs, in 2010 there were 124, and 2011 there were 144.

    "Because of the lack of transparency, there is no information on the number of NGOs that have been denied registration," Huseynov said.

    The head of NGO Mashal dealing with the problems of veterans of the Karabakh war Allman Abbasov said that his organization has repeatedly been refused re-registration.

    "Twice we were asked to amend the Charter. Then we were asked to submit the old certificate of registration. After that we were requested to submit the seal. After all, they could indicate all this at the very beginning," said Abbasov.

    The head of another NGO - Centre for Legal Initiatives Ziya Guliyev said that the issue of registration is not a legal, but a political problem. The issue of registration in the Ministry of Justice is decided by the authorities of the country. Therefore, the solution depends on the political will of the authorities, and attempts to restore the rights through the courts will not make sense.

    The head of an NGO Ahmed Abbasbeyli believes that the problem of registration is specifically devised by the authorities to divert the attention of the civil society from other important issues. A much more serious problem is the lack of financial resources for NGOs, the opacity of the relationship of donors and NGOs, and the virtual absence of relations between NGOs and the state. In regions NGOs have almost no conditions for work and for each event they must request permission from the authorities.

    The head of the NGO Officers in Reserve and Retired, Yashar Jafarli said that the NGOs do not have enough determination to fight for their rights. He called on NGOs to consolidate for active joint actions.

    Member of the Board in Support of NGOs under the President Alimammad Nuriyev, agreeing with all the problems posed, reported that following the July 2 dialogue between NGOs and the presidential administration, work has begun to address these issues. According to him, they will address the problem of registration, simplification of the financial statements of NGOs, facilitation of the registration of international NGOs and others

    At the conclusion of the meeting, awards were presented to the winners of the journalism contest for research on NGOs. -06C-