The spokespersons of Catherine Ashton,
High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
and Vice President of the Commission, and Štefan Füle, European
Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy, issued the
following statement today:
"The High
Representative and the Commissioner are concerned by recent amendments
to NGO legislation in Azerbaijan restricting the environment for an
independent and critical civil society, especially in the field of human
rights and democracy.
In view of
Azerbaijan's upcoming chairmanship of the Council of Europe's Committee
of Ministers, the High Representative and the Commissioner call upon the
Azerbaijani authorities to abide by their international commitments and
to review the law on NGOs with a view to addressing the concerns
formulated by the Venice Commission. In particular, they call upon the
authorities in Azerbaijan to improve and facilitate the registration
procedures for international NGOs, creating an environment conducive for
all NGOs to carry out their legitimate activities.
The High Representative and the
Commissioner acknowledge the recent efforts by the Azerbaijani
Government to engage civil society on its proposals to amend NGO
legislation. While they recognise that this process led to some changes
in the final legislation as adopted, they remain concerned by the
overall impact of this legislation on civil society."
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_STATEMENT-14-2_en.htm?locale=en
12/2/14
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