The Assistant of the President, substitute head of the department for work with NGOs and communications Hikmat Hajiyev has held an online meeting with the heads of 96 NGOs that operate in the field of social, economic, humanitarian and democracy within the framework of NGO-government dialogue. The chairperson of the Institute for Citizens’ Rights Bashir Suleymanli has also participated in the meeting and has made the following proposals to regulating the activities of NGOs:
1) The so-called criminal cases opened against NGOs in 2013-2014 should be terminated with justifying grounds;
2) Electronic registration of NGOs should be set for a period of 7 days and the bureaucratic obstacles should be eliminated;
3) Grants registration should be replaced with a notification form;
4) The activity of international organizations, as well as donors should be restored in Azerbaijan;
5) Created artificial restrictions on the activities of NGOs in the regions should be eliminated;
6) Oppositionist Tofig Yagublu should be released, and as well as the problem of political prisoners should be eliminated.
The Assistant of the President Hikmet Hajiyev has stated in his conclusion speech that the today’s discussions were useful, the comments and proposals that were put forward by the NGOs will be investigated and appropriate steps will be taken in order to address the substantiated issues. The ICR has also presented its proposals on improving the activities of NGOs in a written form.
