Old and new public councils

Baku/29.06.21/Turan: Recently, the process of forming public councils under central and local executive authorities has accelerated. Elections are held in ministries, committees, and regional executive authorities and public councils are created, consisting of representatives of civil society and journalists. What are the functions of public councils? Can councils exercise public oversight in government bodies?

On January 19, 2014, President Ilham Aliyev signed the Law on Public Participation. Under the law, the participation of citizens and civil society institutions is envisaged in the development and implementation of state policy in various spheres of state and public life, decision-making at the national and local levels, organization of public control over the activities of central executive bodies, local executive bodies and local self-government determined by the relevant executive authority. The Public Council is an advisory body created under the central and local executive authorities and local self-government bodies for the implementation of the goals provided for by this Law.

President of the Constitution Research Fund, as well as a member of the Public Council under the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Alimammad Nuriyev told Turan that the functions of public councils are to exercise public control, promote transparency and accountability of the activities of institutions, contribute to the creation of an atmosphere of public trust between government agencies and citizens.

“This is done through conducting public consultations, public hearings, conducting surveys, providing feedback on draft laws and regulations,” he said.

According to him, from 2014 to 2020, public councils were created only in 11 central executive bodies. Many public councils did not have the opportunity to have the right to consult. Because it turned out that, many central executive authorities do not want to have a relationship with the Public Council, created from representatives of civil society. Transparency and accountability in their activities was not good for them.

Nuriyev says that there has been a revival in the processes since September 2020. “This issue was raised at the meeting of the Assistant to the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Hikmet Hajiyev with civil society. After that, meetings were held in central and local executive authorities, at which appropriate instructions were given to implement the law. Therefore, now this process has revived and the process of creating public councils with more than 120 executive bodies has come to an end,” the expert said.

He noted that the activity of the Public Councils depends on the activity of the persons represented in them. “At the same time, the effective activity of the Councils depends on the extent to which state bodies are involved in the matter. Because, again, in many state structures there are stereotypes that it is impossible to interfere in their activities, that is, to conduct monitoring. Sometimes this also manifests itself in the process of creating public councils. Although this process is transparent in central executive bodies, in some local bodies it is not transparent enough,” he said.

Nuriyev stressed that the most important issue in the activities of Public Councils is their independence. According to the legislation, members of Public Councils cannot receive any grants, royalties from an organization created during the period of their activity. Because otherwise, members can no longer raise any questions, talk about shortcomings.

The President of the Foundation believes that institutional support should be strengthened in connection with a more efficient organization of the activities of Public Councils.

“This could increase the opportunities for the councils to implement initiatives,” he said.

Nuriyev noted that the introduction of major changes to the legislation in 2014 narrowed the opportunities for civil society. The action plan put forward by an online platform of public scrutiny proposes to simplify the registration procedure for non-governmental organizations and remove barriers associated with access to foreign grants. It will also contribute to the provision of civil society with resources, which will allow public councils to better structure their activities.

The head of the Civil Rights Institute, Bashir Suleymanli, said that after the formation of a new team in the presidential administration, the presidential aide held a meeting with the central executive bodies, at which issues of forming public councils were discussed. After that, Public Councils began to either be created or formed anew.

The expert says that public councils are formed as provided by law, and if they act in this direction, it is normal to ensure public oversight.

“But this is not the case in the realities of Azerbaijan. In general, if the activities of civil society are limited, if the elections are rigged, then no one can guarantee that the elections to public councils are transparent and everyone is represented in them,” he said.

The lawyer noted that it is impossible to see the representation of all parties in Public councils.

“There are heads of NGOs close to the authorities who have recently expressed their dissatisfaction with this issue. This indicates that the newly formed councils are also formal and unequal representation. NGOs that were under the control of the former socio-political department of the Presidential Administration are excluded, and in return, the representation of NGOs associated with the new team is provided,” he said.

Suleymanli says that in this case it is impossible to talk about the effectiveness of public councils, about ensuring their public control.-0-