Azerbaijan has long had an appalling track record of repression of free media and NGOs. Yet last week, the state-sponsored Council on State Support to NGOs solicited applications from European, US and Turkish NGOs for funding to combat xenophobia and racism, support civic activism, and promote peace and global security.
The Council on State Support to NGOs was established in 2007 on orders from Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and functions under his auspices. Its stated objectives are to provide financial support to NGOs, and to serve as a forum for them to raise concerns over legislation and other matters of public importance. Since 2008, the Council has made available nearly 12 million Euros in grants to support some 2,000 NGO projects.
In a statement released on May 20, the Council defined the objective of the new grants program as “establishing strong cooperation between the NGO Council and European and US- based civil society organizations.”
The offer of funding for international NGOs comes just three months after the Azerbaijani parliament approved amendments to several bills regulating activities of NGOs, international organizations and political and religious organizations. Some 60 Azerbaijani NGOs issued a statement condemning those amendments. They said “the Azerbaijani authorities have developed a sophisticated repressive system that restricts the political atmosphere and stifles the freedoms of association, assembly, and expression. Bans on the freedom of assembly, huge fines for the organizers of or participants in public gatherings, mass arrests, preventing NGOs from organizing events both in the regions and in Baku are all part of the vicious cycle of pressure on civil society”.
On March 14, Freedom House issued a media alert entitled “Azerbaijan: Widening Crackdown Demands International Response” which states: “Freedom House strongly condemns the Azerbaijani government’s widening crackdown against civil society and opposition activists, and calls on international organizations and Western governments to speak out firmly against the crackdown.” The statement goes on to quote Freedom House executive vice president Daniel Calingaert as saying “The government of Azerbaijan is trying to silence alternative voices, including expressions of concern about serious social problems. It appears to think that it can go after supporters of democracy without the international community noticing.”
According to the Council on State Support to NGOs, their objectives are to provide financial support to NGOs, to serve as a forum for them to raise concerns over legislation and other matters of public importance. They consider themselves to be a mediator between the NGO sector, the government and society.
Activities to be funded under this program include protection of fundamental human rights and freedoms; fostering peace and security and alleviation of the negative consequences of regional conflicts (in the context of Armenian-Azerbaijan, Nagorno Karabakh conflict); raising awareness of European and USA communities about Khojaly (26.02.1992) “genocide” as a tool for prevention of similar global tragedies in the future.
