Azerbaijan is far from European standards in the field of freedom of information: expert

Baku/17.05.19/Turan: In Azerbaijan, there is a huge difference in the field of freedom of information, the law, and the real situation, Khalid Agaliyev, an expert in media law, said this in an interview with Turan.

Legislation can still be considered satisfactory. Thus, the law on receiving information adopted in 2005 was even noted by international organizations, saying that the Azerbaijani law can be an example for other countries. However, over the past 15 years, many amendments have been made to this law, seriously worsening it. But even the law in this form is applied in practice with difficulty, noted Agaliyev.

Does access to state information resources meet European standards? Answering this question, Agaliyev said that Azerbaijan lags significantly behind in these matters and is far from European standards.

Government agencies are far from fully fulfilling their obligations to place information on their resources.

In November 2018, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted a resolution obliging state bodies to publish annual financial reports until April 30 of the following year. However, the monitoring of the websites of 30 state agencies revealed that only two departments met this requirement - the Ministry of Communications and the Accounts Chamber.

Responsibility for the "work" of laws lies with state bodies and officials, and civil society institutions are called upon to control this.

"Unfortunately, there are no conditions for the work of civil society in this direction. After the adoption of the law on obtaining information in 2005, I have been monitoring the fulfillment of state obligations by government agencies for 10 years. After the introduction in recent years of restrictions on the activities of civil society, we have no such opportunities," said Agaliyev.

With political will, government agencies and civil society together can solve many issues in the field of information transparency. -16D-