Abbasbeyli

REFUSAL OF REGISTRATION IS NOT LEGAL BUT POLITICAL PROBLEM

• Report rights infringement
• published: 27 Jul 2012
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Refusal to register non-governmental organizations is one of the most serious problems of civil society in the country. The Ministry of Justice often refuses to register NGOs, without providing a reasonable explanation. These are the results of the expert opinion by the Learning Democracy NGO. During the EU-supported project period the Justice Ministry refused to register 200 NGOs. As Learning Democracy NGO head Mirali Huseinov said, many NGOs were denied registration for up to 8 times or even more, despite the fact that they eliminated the alleged flaws. The statistics of registered NGOs show that between 2006 and 2010 the number steadily decreased. While in 2006 there were 548 registered NGOs, in 2010 there were 124, and in 2011 there were 144. "Because of the lack of transparency, there is no information on the number of NGOs that have been denied registration," Huseynov said. Alman Abbasov, the head of Mashal NGO which deals with the problems of Karabakh war veterans, said that his organization has repeatedly been refused re-registration. "We were twice asked to amend the Charter. Then we were required to submit the old certificate of registration. After that we were requested to submit the organization seal. They could have indicated all this at the very beginning" said Abbasov. Head of the Centre for Legal Initiatives, Ziya Guliyev, said that the issue of registration is not a legal, but a political problem. The issue of registration in the Ministry of Justice is decided by the authorities of the country. Therefore, the solution depends on the political will of the authorities, and any attempts to restore your rights through the courts will go in vain. An NGO head Ahmed Abbasbeyli believes that the problem of registration is deliberately devised by the authorities to divert the attention of the civil society from other important issues. Much more serious problems are lack of financial resources for NGOs, lack of transparency in the relations between donors and NGOs, and absence of cooperation between NGOs and the state. In regions NGOs have almost no conditions for work and for each event they have to request the authorities for permission. Head of the Reserve and Retired Officers Public Union, Yashar Jafarli said the NGOs are not determined enough to fight for their rights. He called upon NGOs to act in cooperation. Alimammad Nuriyev, member of the Council of State Support to NGOs under the President, agreed with all the problems raised and reported that following the July 2 dialogue between NGOs and the presidential administration, efforts have been launched to address these issues. According to him, they will address the problem of registration, simplification of the financial accountability of NGOs and facilitation of the registration of international NGOs. At the conclusion of the meeting, awards were presented to the winners of the journalism contest on the investigation of the problems of NGOs.