Research Results on Lack of Information Resources of Government Agencies

Baku/25.01.21/Turan: In general, the websites of state bodies comply with the requirements of information openness, but at the same time, there is usually no data on financial transparency.

In addition, government agencies only in one of three cases respond to requests from journalists.

These are the conclusions of the study "Information openness of state structures and the situation with access to information", prepared following the results of a 10-month monitoring of over 170 websites of state structures, including 81 central executive authorities.

At the ZOOM conference on January 22, the project manager, legal expert Alesker Mammadli said that the project was implemented with the support of the Black Sea Regional Cooperation Organization - the Marshall Fund.

The results of the monitoring were announced by political scientist Nasimi Mammadli. The assessment was carried out in terms of compliance with the Law "On Obtaining Information" and other legal acts according to 13 parameters and 59 criteria.

The Internet resources of government agencies, as a rule, comply with the norms. Most sites contain extensive information. The technical capabilities and functionality of the sites are also satisfactory.

However, there is no information about the powers of structural divisions, the current tariff rate for heads of departments, their deputies and heads of structural divisions, the conditions for citizens' participation in the discussion of current regulatory (normative) projects, the budget and its implementation, the use of off-budget revenues, information about tenders, competitions, state programs and public procurement.

The performance of subjects of public information is also unsatisfactory. For example, in order to receive information in electronic form, such questions as gender, education, social origin, ID number and FIN code of the applicant are requested, as well as other information that is not required by law.

State websites are crammed with lots of materials about support for the ruling political party and its leadership.

Keyword searches on sites are unsatisfactory.

Often times, public information found on Google searches is missing from the site itself or hidden in confusing subheadings.

The top five most open sites include the State Tax Service, the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Finance and the State Statistics Committee. They have a level of information transparency above 90%.

Among the five outsiders are Azerbaijan Television and Radio Broadcasting JSC AzTV, the Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA), the State Civil Aviation Agency, the State Commission for Prisoners of War, and the Supreme Attestation Commission under the President.

The average indicator for the central executive authorities was 57.3%. At the same time, the information openness of the websites of the Cabinet of Ministers made up 50.7%, Milli Mejlis - 50%, and the President of the country - 37.2%.

Legal expert Shahla Humbatova spoke about the reaction of state bodies to the information requests of journalists. There were 56 inquiries in total and only 19 were answered (34%). At the same time, out of 19 responses, only 15 requests were provided. Statistics show that government agencies do not fulfill their obligation to respond to inquiries.

As a good example for this indicator, Humbatova named the State Committee for Family, Women and Children Affairs.

The authors of the study put forward recommendations in the conclusion, providing for the elimination of the identified deficiencies and ensuring the right of citizens to information. -06B-