Azerbaijan enacts amendments to the law on NGOs and grants

Amendments to the legislation on NGOs that assume that foreign donors may provide grants to the country's public associations only under a permit of the government have come into force in Azerbaijan. Mirvari Gakhramanly, the head of the Organization of Oil Workers' Rights Protection, said that the country has eliminated chance for independent NGOs to exist.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on October 17 the Azerbaijani Parliament amended the legislation on NGOs; and henceforth the works and services performed and rendered by NGOs at the expense of external funding sources should be supported by contracts registered at the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).

According to Fuad Aleskerov, the head of the department on working with law enforcement bodies of the President's Administration, the amendments to the law on NGOs "have the goal of ensuring transparency in this area." In his view, local branches of international NGOs often act in violation of the law.

As an example, he cited the funding by the US National Democratic Institute (NDI) of the youth movement "Nida", whose members were convicted on charges of organizing mass riots.

Natig Djafarli, the executive director of the movement "Republican Alternative" (ReAl), has treated the amendments as the desire to "destroy the foundation of the civil society."

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.