On November 17 MG Consulting presented the main findings of the CSO Meter country report for Azerbaijan. Representatives of the EU, USAID, US and Belgium Embassy, Black Sea Trust Fund, International Organization for Migration, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Economy as well as NGOs and media attended the event and discussed the recommendations to improve the environment in which Azeri CSOs operate.
In terms of how the pilot tool could be further improved, participants made the following recommendations:
- make the standards more focused;
- introduce a penalty for Ministry of Justice for rejecting NGO registration;
- make the recommendations more specific (i.e. ‘simplification’ is broad);
- introduce a provision into the law that would allow reimbursement of costs for members of public councils when they travel to regions for monitoring;
- embassies should introduce a unified mechanism for cooperation with CSOs.
More details from the event can be found at the popular CSO online resource as well as NGO legislation Facebook page.