Azerbaijan tightens conditions for foreign funding of NGOs

Amendments to legislation tightening regulations in the area of financing non-governmental organizations have been approved and entered into force in Azerbaijan. These requirements are aimed at financially weakening civil society, believes the head of the Legal Center "Zashchitnik" Samad Rahimli.

As reported by "Kavkazsky Uzel", in February 2014, amendments were adopted in Azerbaijan according to which NGOs not registered with the Ministry of Justice effectively lost the opportunity to use grants. The legislation obliged NGOs to report changes in their register lists to government agencies every 90 days, new rules for inspections of NGO activities were introduced, and new types of violations were established, for which large fines are imposed on NGOs and their leaders.

On August 1, the President of Azerbaijan approved amendments to the law on non-governmental organizations, and thus they entered into force. According to the innovations, it is prohibited to conduct banking and other transactions on services provided on the basis of financing from foreign sources under contracts not registered with state bodies of Azerbaijan.
The provision of services under these contracts and the acceptance of financing under them will be prohibited and will entail administrative liability.

“Earlier, amendments were made to the legislation on liability for receiving and using grants from foreign sources without registering these contracts with state bodies,” explained in an interview with a “Caucasian Knot” correspondent legal expert, head of the “Zashchitnik” Legal Center Samad Rahimli.

“These changes have significantly limited the opportunities for the activities of independent civil society institutions. Many NGOs were forced to suspend their activities. However, individual activists and experts could individually conduct some monitoring and research based on service contracts. Now this opportunity is also being eliminated. Because service contracts will also be subject to state registration, and under the current administrative system, any contract that is not pleasing to the authorities will be rejected,” Rahimli explained.

In his opinion, the introduction of additional requirements for registering grants and service contracts should be viewed by most lawyers and NGO leaders as “an instrument aimed at financially weakening civil society.”

“The authorities cover up these measures with considerations of “transparency.” However, “transparency” is used only as an excuse for tightening the legislation; the real goal is to prevent funding for NGOs and deprive them of the opportunity to act independently. The previous experience of the Ministry of Justice shows that projects in the field of human rights, the fight against corruption, economic research, and budget expenditures are not registered and are effectively banned,” Samad Rahimli emphasizes.

He drew attention to the fact that the amendments to the legislation were adopted against the backdrop of the Prosecutor General’s Office resuming a criminal case against NGOs and bringing dozens of activists to justice.

"In fact, these measures became the last nail in the coffin of independent civil society in Azerbaijan," the expert noted.

He pointed out that the new wave of repression against NGOs coincided with the liquidation of USAID (United States Agency for International Development) in the United States. "Those arrested and under investigation in the new case against NGOs were brought in specifically on suspicion of fulfilling contracts financed by USAID," Rahimli said.

It was not possible to obtain comments from the Azerbaijani presidential administration.