{"id":962,"date":"2014-11-04T11:59:24","date_gmt":"2014-11-04T11:59:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/?p=962"},"modified":"2014-11-05T12:07:18","modified_gmt":"2014-11-05T12:07:18","slug":"azerbaijan-debating-gongo-vs-ngo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/?p=962","title":{"rendered":"Azerbaijan: Debating GONGO vs. NGO"},"content":{"rendered":"

eurasianet.org
\n<\/em>
\nAzerbaijan\u2019s efforts to use its energy wealth to win friends and influence opinion in the United States and European Union are well documented<\/a>. Far less attention has been paid to Baku\u2019s suspected efforts aimed at co-opting rights advocates inside Azerbaijan.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>An entity in Azerbaijan called the Joint Working Group for Human Rights has become a focal point in a brewing debate over possible Azerbaijani government meddling in the non-governmental sector. Many independent rights activists believe the Joint Working Group to be a sham, contending that some of the purportedly non-governmental organization representatives on the panel are actually dependent on the government for funding. They also assert that many civil-society organizations listed as taking part in the discussions are not genuine non-governmental organizations (NGOs), but are, more accurately, GONGOs, or government-organized non-governmental organizations. The joint working group resumed holding sessions in October, after Azerbaijan faced criticism<\/a> from US and EU officials.<\/p>\n

There are indications that the blurry line separating NGOs and GONGOs in Azerbaijan is paying dividends for the government in Baku. Officials in recent months have broadened a crackdown<\/a> on rights activists and independent journalists. Yet, the United States and the Council of Europe, the intergovernmental body whose Committee of Ministers Azerbaijan heads until November 13, both hailed the working group\u2019s reemergence as a promising sign that the Azerbaijani government may be ready to turn a corner on rights-related issues.<\/p>\n

Independent-minded observers in Baku are quick to point out that the Joint Working Group is a government-heavy entity. It comprises seven state officials, including Fuad Alasgarov, a top presidential aide, and Chingiz Asgarov, Azerbaijan\u2019s representative at the European Court of Human Rights. In addition, there are two pro-government MPs, one Constitutional Court justice and three members of the president\u2019s Council on State Support for Non-Governmental Organizations on the panel. It also has seven individuals billed as NGO representatives. [For a list of the seven representatives, see the editor\u2019s note below].<\/p>\n

Questions about the independence of the group\u2019s seven NGO representatives are connected to the matter of state handouts to supposedly non-governmental entities. The government has curtailed the ability of NGOs to obtain funding from foreign sources over the past few years, while at the same time it has increased the amount of state funds available to NGOs. The amount allocated in the 2015 budget, about $7.6 million (or 6 million manats), is almost 50 percent more than the 2014 allocation.<\/p>\n

Official data on which NGOs received state funding in 2014 was not immediately available.<\/p>\n

Labor-rights activist Mirvari Gahramanli, who has worked for more than a decade in Azerbaijan\u2019s NGO sector, asserts that the vast majority of the country\u2019s roughly 3,000 registered NGOs are, in fact, GONGOs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe NGOs that are independent face persecution; many of them cannot function, as their bank accounts have been frozen and some of the NGO leaders are either in prison, or have had to leave the country in order to not face persecution,\u201d said Gahramanli, who runs the Committee for the Defense of Oil Workers\u2019 Rights.<\/p>\n

Many independent Azerbaijani observers believe that, under existing conditions in Azerbaijan, some NGO members of the Joint Working Group have accepted financial support from the government, and thus their organizations should be classified as GONGOs. But given the lack of transparency in the process, there is no way to be sure which organizations have compromised their independence. What is certain is that the picture is not black-and-white, underscored by the fact that Gahramanli herself sits on the Joint Working Group.<\/p>\n

Gahramanli is far from the only observer who has voiced suspicions about the role of GONGOs in the Joint Working Group. The situation is so muddled that some have questioned Gahramanli\u2019s loyalties.<\/p>\n

Ten imprisoned Azerbaijanis, internationally recognized as political prisoners, recently released a public letter to complain that they cannot trust the intentions of all of the Joint Working Group\u2019s civil-society representatives. Most of these individuals, the prisoners\u2019 open letter claimed, only represent the government\u2019s interests.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, 35 other civil-society activists addressed similar concerns in an appeal to Council of Europe Secretary-General Thorbj\u00f8rn Jagland.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am convinced that many of the group members do not speak up about political prisoners and do not criticize the government for [exerting] pressure on civil society,\u201d one of the 35 signatories, human-rights activist Gunay Ismayilova, told EurasiaNet.org. \u201cWhy should we believe that they will defend them when they meet with the government?\u201d<\/p>\n

Some question how open the group\u2019s NGO representatives are to outside scrutiny. Investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova<\/a>, an outspoken government critic who previously has worked for EurasiaNet.org, was invited to the Joint Working Group\u2019s first meeting on October 22, but, at the last minute, was blocked from attending. She alleged on Facebook that, based on a conversation with a government official, she was barred because of objections from civil-society representatives on the panel.<\/p>\n

One of the Joint Working Group\u2019s presidential council representatives, Sahib Mammadov, is dismissive of the criticism, contending that those who attack the group\u2019s civil-society representatives are inexperienced. \u201cNegotiating with the government cannot be considered the behavior of a GONGO,\u201d argued Mammadov, who heads the Citizens’ Labor-Rights Protection League and is a member of the president\u2019s Council on State Support for Non-Governmental Organizations. \u201cTo reach a result, you need to talk to the government.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Joint Working Group civil-society representative singled out in the prisoners\u2019 letter for criticism, Novella Jafaroglu, chair of the Dilara Aliyeva Society for Women’s Rights, commented to RFE\/RL\u2019s Azerbaijani service that the prisoners lacked up-to-date information. \u201cWe are not offended by them. We are just surprised at the people who asked them to sign this letter,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Government officials could not be reached for comment.<\/p>\n

So far, the debate over the influence of GONGOs within the Joint Working Group does not appear to have dampened the international community\u2019s public support for the body. In a November 3 op-ed published in The Guardian, Jagland cited the resumption of the group\u2019s activities as among the \u201cglimmers of hope\u201d for Azerbaijan to correct \u201cits poor human rights record<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are few concrete signs that the government is ready to ease up on civil society activists. Just the opposite; the crackdown seems to be continuing. A Baku court on October 29 sentenced another opposition journalist, Khalid Garayev, to jail on charges of alleged hooliganism and insubordination to police.<\/p>\n

Editor’s note:<\/strong>
\nThe seven civil-society representatives on the Joint Working Group are: Gahramanli of the Committee for the Defense of Oil Workers\u2019 Rights; Arzu Abdullayeva of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly, Azerbaijan National Committee; Saadat Bananyarli of the Azerbaijani section of the International Organization on Human Rights; Saida Gojamanli of the Human Rights and Legislation Protection Bureau; Novella Jafaroglu of the Dilara Aliyeva Society for Protection of Women Rights; and Zaliha Tahirova and Eldar Zeynalov, both of the Human Rights Center of Azerbaijan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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