Brussels, 13/02/2014 (Agence Europe) - On 12 February, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton and Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Füle spoke of their concern about the recent amendments made to Azerbaijan's legislation on non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and they called for these amendments to be reviewed. According to Ashton and Füle, the amendments made to the legislation restrict “the environment for an independent and critical civil society, especially in the field of human rights and democracy”.
While the two acknowledge the efforts by the Azerbaijani government to engage civil society on its proposals to amend NGO legislation, and while they recognise that this process led to some changes in the final legislation adopted, they remain concerned by the overall impact of the legislation on civil society, says Ashton and Füle's spokesperson in a press release.
Thus, “in view of” Azerbaijan's upcoming chairmanship of the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers, Ashton and Füle call upon the Azerbaijani authorities “to abide by their international commitments and to review the law on NGOs with a view to addressing the concerns formulated by the Venice Commission”. In particular, they call upon the authorities in Azerbaijan “to improve and facilitate the registration procedures for international NGOs, creating an environment conducive for all NGOs to carry out their legitimate activities”.
On 3 February, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliev approved the amendments to NGO legislation. The new legislation provides for further temporary suspension mechanisms and for the permanent ban of national and foreign NGOs. (CG/transl.fl)