IMR: freedom of access to information in Azerbaijan remains unsatisfactory

In Azerbaijan, despite certain progress in the freedom of access to information, the situation remains unsatisfactory, said Khaled Agaliev, project coordinator of the Institute of Media Rights (IMR) on May 17, when presenting the progress report on the situation in Azerbaijan with the freedom of information.

The presentation of the report was dated to the World Day of Information Community marked on May 17.

The report reflects the results of the study conducted by the IMR from September 2009 to April 2010. In particular, the document analyzes the answers to requests sent to various state bodies and monitoring of the websites of these bodies, and gives recommendations to the government.

According to Mr Agaliev, 350 requests sent out to bodies of executive, legislative and judicial power brought 188 answers, which makes 53.7 percent of the number of requests.

According to his story, it is the highest figure after adoption of the law "On Receipt of Information" in 2005. He noted that during their previous studies the share of responded requests had never exceeded 40 percent.

At the same time, 162 requests for information remained unanswered. Thus, the IMR requests were ignored by the National Assembly, the Closed Joint-Stock Company "Television Broadcasts of Azerbaijan" (state-owned television), the Ministry of Agriculture, the executive authority of Baku, the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of the Population and the Cabinet of Ministers.

As noted by Mr Agaliev, "all the state structures were most willing to answer the requests about the tenders they hold, general statistics and directions of their activities."

"At the same time, many agencies were stubbornly hiding the data about details of how they spend budget money," he said.

Another problem is delay in answering requests.

As to the monitoring of Internet resources, it covered websites of 45 executive, legislative and judicial agencies. However, despite the presence of Internet resources, the supreme bodies of the executive, legislative and judicial power fail - in most cases - to timely update them.

In opinion of Alesker Mamedli, an independent lawyer and expert of the American NGO "IREX pro media", a serious problem is absence of operatively placed important information.

He noted that any law or law amendment should be placed - within 24 hours - in the special legislative website of the Ministry of Justice: www.qanun.az after enactment. In practice, amendments in legislation are placed with great delays.

The head of the IMR Rashid Gadzhily noted certain drawbacks in the issue of obtaining information, which is manifested "through refusal of some state structures in providing complete information and absence of data completeness in the websites of these bodies." According to his version, the IMR has prepared recommendations, the main ones being signing and ratification by the government of the European Convention on Freedom of Information, creation of the corresponding national legislative base, establishment of the institute of information ombudsman and expansion of the access of the population to the Internet.

In his turn, Ali Kerim, head of the sector of information technologies and the software of the Commission on State Service Matters at the President of Azerbaijan, noted "the utility of monitoring information resources."

According to his story, his Commission is serious to the right of citizens to receive information. Thus, as Mr Kerim noted, they not only see to regular updating information in their website, but also make use of such communication means like dispatch of E-mail and SMS messages about operation of the Commission. "And it yields rather effective results," said the employee of the Commission.