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STOCKHOLM. June 29, 2009: The Swedish Helsinki Committee for Human Rights appealed to the president of Azerbaijan regarding the proposed amendments to the Law on Non-Governmental Organizations. The organization expressed grave concerns about the nature of those amendments and their possible effect over the civic institutions in the country and called on the Azeri president to prevent the enforcement of those amendments. Below is the full text of the letter:

“Dear President Aliyev,
The Swedish Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, SHC is writing to you regarding the proposed amendments on the Law on Non-Governmental Organizations (Public Associations and Foundations). We would like to express our deepest concern about the proposed amendments to the law that have been submitted to Azerbaijan’s parliament (Milli Majlis).
It is our opinion that the amendments aims at heavily circumcise the ability of domestic and international NGOs to work in Azerbaijan. The proposed new law would make the work of all NGOs severely more difficult. The draft requires that all NGOs register at the state authorities. If a person makes statements or acts on behalf of an unregistered organization, a financial fine is introduced. The law also further expands the already wide grounds on which the government can refuse to approve registration of an NGO. The amendments also target NGOs through their sources of financing. If the law is approved the limit of international funding that a domestic NGO can receive will be strictly limited. Having in mind that there are no domestic sources of funding for the civil society, this is a very serious restriction. At the same time the draft suggests harder restrictions registration of international NGOs in Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan is a signatory party and obliged to the provisions in both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the European Convention on Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR). It is our opinion that the draft amendments contradict to several provisions to both ICCPR and ECHR, most notably Article 22 of the ICCPR and Article 11 of the ECHR.
SHC regrettably conclude that the latest proposed amendments unfortunately are no isolated incidents. They must and should be seen in context of earlier actions taken by the authorities to create obstacles for human rights defenders, independent journalism and civil society in general. The amendments appear intended to stifle NGOs and they represent a significant setback in Azerbaijan’s democratization process.
We therefore urge you to take immediate action to suspend consideration by the parliament of the amendment package and further to ensure that new amendments to the law on NGOs will be in compliance with your country’s international human rights obligations on freedom of association.

Thank you for your attention to this very urgent matter

Sincerely,



Erik Esbjörnson
Programme Director CIS
Swedish Helsinki Committe
Stora Nygatan 26
111 27 Stockholm, Sweden

(Azerireport).