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The Steering Committee of the Open Government Partnership made a decision to decrease Azerbaijan’s status in its structure on May 4. Azerbaijan’s status was designated from a plenipotentiary member to an “inactive” country, the statement on Open Government Partnership website reads.

According to the information, the decision is motivated by the Azerbaijani government’s constrains on the operating environment for Non-Governmental Organizations and impediments in the civil society’s development. The decision is the first time that OGP has taken action under its Response Policy. Itis emphasized that the government of Azerbaijan will have a maximum of one year to address the concerns raised by civil society organizations, after which the country will be returned to active status. With an “inactive” status, the country will not be eligible to vote in OGP elections and will only be able to attend OGP events as an observer.
Meanwhile, the Caucasian Knot reports that Chairman of the Economic Research Center of Azerbaijan, Gubad Ibadoglu, commented on the country’s status drop in the OGP, saying that the decision was expected.

“Over the last two years, Azerbaijani NGOs have faced unprecedented obstacles in their activities. Restrictive amendments were included in the legislation, and an obligatory registration system of not only grants, but also donors, was introduced. Many NGOs faced criminal proceedings, their bank accounts were frozen, and activists were banned to leave the country. That is why, last year, Azerbaijan’s status in the international organization Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) was decreased from a plenipotentiary member to an observer,” Ibadoglu said.

According to him, warnings about the possible drop of the status sounded also in the Open Government Partnership. “Then this decision followed. It is true that positive changes have recently been noticed: a number of unreasonably convicted human rights defenders have been released, the process of unfreezing bank accounts has started, and travel bans are being cancelled. However, these steps are not enough. Systemic decisions are obviously needed – absolute elimination of obstacles for the free activities of NGOs and donors, simplification of public organizations and grants’ registration, abolition of reactionary changes of the last years in the legislation,” the expert said.

He also noted that in a year, the country’s status as a plenipotentiary member will be recovered; otherwise, Azerbaijan can be excluded from the organization. 

In his turn, commenting on the possible consequences of the Azerbaijan’s status drop in the Partnership, the Republican Alternative movement board member Hafiz Babali stated that the decision does not bring any direct economic sanctions against the Azerbaijani government; however, “the drop of the transparency status in the authoritarian regime strikes to the image of the government and the country.” 

“Partnership in such institutions is the hallmark of the country’s transparency. If a country’s status drops, it forms a negative opinion about it among foreign investors and international creditors, and complicates financial loans of the government and big national organizations abroad,” the expert added.

According to him, amid low oil prices, when the government has obligations to finance Azerbaijan’s share in big investment projects like gas pipelines TANAP and TAP, the damage of the country’s reputation can cause difficulties in implementing loans from the point of view of transparency.