In the near future there will be a civil society forum

Leaders of several leading NGOs held a meeting in the office of the Azerbaijan National Committee of Helsinki Citizens' Assembly (HCA) yesterday to discuss the situation in the country's civil society.

The hearings were held in conjunction with the amendments to NGO legislation adopted by the Parliament on December 17, which tighten the requirements for registration of NGOs and impose additional duties and responsibilities on them, and greatly increase fines for technical errors. Moreover, the amendments were adopted without prior discussions with the representatives of civil society.

The panelists expressed bewilderment about the government's position in relation to NGOs and even regarded it as " intimidation of civil society ."

To draw attention to this problem they decided to hold a civil society forum, with the date to be decided at the next meeting of activists in the coming days .

The forum will be held as soon as possible, as in the case of approval of the reactionary amendments by the President, they will come into force.

It was noted that official Baku should consider "the stabilizing role of civil institutions in the society."

When there are no such institutions, social explosions occur, accompanied by chaos like the "Arab Spring."

They also noted the need to review the situation in the civilian sector in legal , political, social and community areas.

It was also decided to ask the international community to influence the situation in Azerbaijan with the implementation of fundamental freedoms, including freedom of association, assembly and expression in Azerbaijan. - 05C06-