When in Vienna speaking about Internet Freedoms in Azerbaijan

I thought, after a very long silence and absence I share with you my talking points from a conference I just attended in Vienna organized by the OSCE Austria Chairmanship, Council of Europe and the Chairmanship of the Czech Republic in the Council of Europe. 

Lights, camera, action minus the action and camera with an exception of live stream camera and few photographers. 

On the panel "Determining the unlawful nature of third-party content – what does it mean in practice?" I tried to bring in the country-specific example since other panelists included a Facebook rep [who was pretty good]; two academics [one of them was the amazing Ben Wagner who was our moderator] and a lawyer. 

Surely Azerbaijan representation to the OSCE did not like that Azerbaijan was as she said "singled out" and requested that delegation is told ahead of time when their country is going to be singled out on a panel. 

She [it is actually pretty cool to see that the rep. of our mission or at least the person who attends most of these OSCE events is a woman, so yay to that, though nay to what she was saying] also responded to a statement made by the EU rep who mentioned Azerbaijan as a country of concern for the EU where internet freedoms are on a sliding scale.

I was also disputed, of course, by two male reps from Azerbaijan [one of whom claimed we were "friends on Twitter" before trashing my intervention in the plenary]. In fact, it was the first time that I was accused of working "in Armenia" and therefore "not in a position to provide an account of what is happening in Azerbaijan". 

Hmm... I have been accused of being Armenian, of working for Armenia, and with Armenia and so on but being told I work from Armenia was pretty new to me. 

I guess, all I can say to that gentleman is that check your facts. Although I am pretty sure he knew perfectly well where I live. Oh well. It is what it is.

So, now that I have shared juicy highlights from our government mouthpiece reps, I can now proceed to share with you some of the juicy highlights from my talk. 

There were a few overarching questions that I tried to address: 

- Are intermediaries in Azerbaijan equipped to balance fundamental human rights, and freedoms and relevant social interests at stake? 

- What does it mean for the separation of powers?

- With such an extensive power over various areas of content regulation, what are the consequences for internet freedom and in the governance of Internet? 

* Azerbaijan is certainly a case where intermediaries are not equipped to balance fundamental rights and freedoms, there is a weak separation of powers and as a result, the consequences for internet freedom have been rather grim. And if we are to look at a rate and scale of rights abuse inside the country, there is clear evidence of the real intentions and something tells me, freedoms online or offline are not in the picture. As a result, just as other forms of freedoms, internet freedom has been on the decline in Azerbaijan. 

* Independence of the intermediaries is jeopardized if we look at the ownership, transparency, and accountability of both the government and the internet intermediaries. 

* The recently renamed and restructured Ministry of communications and high technologies holds significant shares in a handful of leading internet service providers and the government is authorized to instruct companies to cut internet service under very broadly defined circumstances, including war, emergency situations, and national disasters. 

* Wholesale access to international gateways is maintained by companies with close ties to the government. Only two operators in the country, AzerTelecom, and DeltaTelecom, are licensed to connect international IP traffic. DeltaTelecom also owns the internet backbone and is the main distributor of traffic to other ISPs in the country. It's monopoly also extends over data storage where its stores national information resources. 

* The consequences of holding such a monopoly of country’s internet traffic was reflected in November 2015, when the country experienced its first internet blackout, that was caused by the fire at Delta Telecom data center. Another blackout took place in 2016 although not as bad as the previous year. One of the explanations provided for the last year’s blackout was related to internet providers being unable to cover their debt to Delta Telecom. 

What about some basic infrastructure data you might just as well ask? 

Internet penetration in Azerbaijan according to recent ITU report is around 77%. However, the quality and monopolized telecom infrastructure remain the main obstacle for better internet access across the country. 

Mobile internet is doing slightly better [the key here is "slightly"]. While the average costs have dropped for internet service significantly since 2011, there is still income discrepancy when it comes to affordability. A World Bank report in 2015 concluded that the average household in Azerbaijan lower income bracket which makes 40% of the total population income, would need 21% of their monthly disposable income to afford the cheapest mobile broadband package and 28% of the cheapest fixed broadband package. 

Now bear in mind, these calculations were done before the two currency devaluations in Azerbaijan we saw last year. 

There are over 50 ISPs in the country, a little over half of the market (56%) controlled by the three state-owned companies. 

One state provider AzTelekomnet has ownership ties to the Ministry of Communication and High Technologies while one of its shareholders, include Azerfon, which has links to the president’s daughters. 

The country’s leading mobile service has been found to have connections with President Aliyev’s daughters too. 

The problem with the rest of the ISPs is that they are still controlled by the Ministry of Communication and High Technologies. The biggest concern is the authority national security services hold over telecom companies, requiring them to make available their equipment and special facilities. 

Mobile companies are known to surrender the content of users’ phone conversations without a court order. 

In 2014, Citizen Lab reported that Azerbaijan along with 20 other governments was suspected of using RCS (remote control system) spyware sold by the intelligence technology and surveillance company Hacking Team. This spyware allowed anyone with access to active a computer’s webcam, and microphone, and steal videos, documents, contact lists, emails and any other form of documentation on the computers. 

In August of 2015, the ministry of communication said it will require some social media and instant messaging services as a Facebook messenger, WhatsApp, skype, and Viber to obtain a licence in order to operate in Azerbaijan. For now, this has not been done although, discussions are already worrying. this year, one parliament member suggested users of popular social media networks in Azerbaijan register with IDs before posting any comment online to prevent “online harassment”. 

So whats next?

In 2014, UNESCO study on internet intermediaries’ relation to digital rights showed that the levels of transparency of ISPs on matters related to privacy and surveillance are very low. And in countries with questionable ownership, this relation becomes even riskier if not raises questions and alarm. 

In Azerbaijan, we are yet to see full transparency in this regard both from internet intermediaries and government. 

We are also yet to see introduction and adoption of specific regulations to ensure net neutrality. Most importantly, we are yet to see the government take necessary steps to end all forms of impunity for violence against online activists, journalists, and bloggers. 

Instead, what we are seeing is further shrinking space in a monopolized system. 

In March of this year, amendments were introduced to the law on “Information, informatization, and protection of information” (shortly law of information) and on “telecommunication”. Authorities said these were necessary amendments in order to ensure regulation of the internet. One parliament member said, “We are talking about banning the propaganda of violence, religious extremism, incitement to national, religious and racial hatred, the disclosure of state secrets, abuse and slander, breach of privacy and family life”. 

The changes call on the owners of the websites, to immediately remove the illegal content after receiving a warning from a relevant state institution. In case of content is not removed within 8 hours, the website owners can be taken to court. And in case the content is a threat to state and society, the site can be closed without a court order. These amendments were adopted pretty much as soon as they were introduced. 

And already in May we saw blocked access to some of the independent and opposition news platforms as well as opposition online TV channels based on a court order [as I was corrected by the Azerbaijan delegation rep. to the OSCE]. What the official delegate forgot to mention was that their owners were not given any notice. Nor were they provided with any court orders. 

So what does all of this talk mean? Well for once, it means, we should be worried. We should be worried about the extension of Azerbaijani government intervention on the Internet and things it can and willing to do to get in the way of any kind of dissent. 

You see, up until this year [2017], the government refrained from engaging in extensive blocking or filtering of online content, often relying on legal, economic and social pressures to discourage critical media coverage or political activism online and offline. 

In November of last year, we saw how a number of opposition and independent websites (which are currently blocked for access) reported access and loading speed issues. These websites included azadliq.info (website for an opposition newspaper); Voice of America, Meydan TV (Berlin-based dissident media platform); Azadliq Radio (Azerbaijan Service for Radio Free Europe) - all of these platforms experienced some form of artificially engineered bandwidth throttling and at least 6 cases of network congestion as well as deep packet inspection mechanisms in all incoming connections into the country. 

Also in November of last year, Azerbaijani parliament adopted two new legislative amendments which increase penalties for online defamation and insult. According to article 148 posting slander or insult on an internet information resource while using fake names, profiles, or accounts are punishable by imprisonment for up to one year. According to article 323 smearing or humiliating honor and dignity of the president in public statements, publicly shown products, or mass media is punishable by up to three years imprisonment or fines as high as 750EUR (1500AZN). 

In 2013, a local court ruled that social media was subject to libel laws as a form of mass media when a former bank employee was sentenced to one year of corrective labor for critiquing his former employer on Facebook. 

Defamation committed online falls under the criminal code, punishable by up to six months in prison. While the prosecutor and the ministry of the interior can initiate an investigation based on content posted on Facebook. 

This year [2017], during the hosting of the Islamic Solidarity Games, users in Azerbaijan reported problems using WhatsApp, Facebook messenger, and Skype. Authorities at first did not respond to reports, however, later explained the measures were taken by them, for the reasons of national security. 

This year we also saw blocking of international websites- since September 2017 access to OCCRP’s website remains blocked. Few words - Azerbaijan Laundromat, slush fund, corruption, bribery - might serve as explainers to reasons why this is happening. 

Recent legislative amendments and continued harassment of netizens offline for their activities online raises the stakes of possible throttling with more online platforms and internet as a whole. Not to forget that these legal changes come atop of reports of arrested, imprisoned and persecuted journalists and bloggers in Azerbaijan. 

In February of this year, a court in Baku sentenced blogger Mehman Huseynov on defamation charges making him first citizen journalist to be prosecuted openly for defamation. 

In a country where freedoms and all forms of dissent (online and offline) are heavily cracked down and punishable by bogus charges, hefty fines, and long jail times, it is difficult to talk about any kind of independence let alone independence of internet intermediaries.

Applause*

Thank you*

#netfreedom17

Dear optimists and enthusiasts- Azerbaijan ain't improving!

If you think regime in Azerbaijan is softening on freedoms and rights issues with the amnesty of 14 political prisoners you are deeply deeply mistaken. 

First of all, it is simply the old school method of putting on a veil ahead of some international event. In the past, some described this practice in Azerbaijan as "revolving door policy". One goes out, another goes in. 14 go out, I am pretty sure, the regime will soon enough find replacements for them.

Aliyev is soon to arrive in DC for a nuclear summit, so he had to do something, the man is tired of criticism and scrutiny. So what a tired dictator does when he wants to get some of the heat off? Release some prisoners, change legislation or do something else.

All of rights watchdog community said immediately after the release that this was in no way a sign of good will. It was simply something the regime did ahead of the US visit. 

Second of all, Azerbaijan's record of complying with its responsibilities to international treaties ain't stellar. So it should come as no surprise that there is a draft bill at the parliament on executing international decisions on the protection of human rights and freedoms by Azerbaijan. If you are not sure what it means then think European Court of Human Rights. Then think about all of their decisions including the one about political prisoner Ilgar Mammadov, then insert this new draft and you will hopefully get the picture. 

Yes... Azerbaijan has no intention of improving. In fact, it is only getting worse. So to all those enthusiasts and optimists out there- spare yourselves from another disappointment and prepare for the worse.

Oh and in case you missed the news, two journalists were told they cannot leave the country last week because they had travel bans. For what and since when they have not been told. But who cares, this is Azerbaijan, where the regime does not need any explanations. 

Azerbaijan's political prisoners- 93 and counting?!

Even though the officials in Baku dismiss any claims about the existence of political prisoners in Azerbaijan, a working group on human rights concluded yesterday an updated list, with names of 93 individuals. 

Following their meeting yesterday, the group said 3 out of 80 people who were on the list as of May 2015 were released. But the list was expanded to include new names. 

The list of political prisoners is updated based on the criteria of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly resolution adopted in 2012. Based on this criteria, 16 more names were added to the previous list making the total number of political prisoners in the country 93. 

An official pardon decree is expected in the following days. A different working group compiled its own list with 22 names. Arzu Abdullayeva, one of the members of this working group, said their list includes the names of prisoners of conscience and activists from various civil society organizations. 

But this working group does not recognize the list compiled by the working group who authored the first list of political prisoners (with over 90 names). 

A little more than just obscene hand gesture

So turns out soccer player Javid Huseynov whose name is directly linked [for now at least] to the death of journalist Rasim Aliyev didn't just wave a Turkish flag at the game between Azerbaijan's Gebele and Cypriot Apollon Limassol game on August 6. 

There were already tensions before the game between the teams and special requests were made to keep the tension low and hope for a friendly match. 

That didn't happen. 

One rumor circulating online was that at some point during the game Apollon's fans allegedly attempted at burning down Azerbaijani flag. 

Then there is the player Javid's pumped fist right after his score during penalty time.

Also, as if the fist wasn't enough, Javid waved the Turkish flag during the game. And when a local journalist asked about the flag Javid snapped, making another gesture and leaving hastily. 

Apollon Limasson hoped that UEFA will ban the player and punish the team but no such thing happened. Javid remained on the team while the team itself didn't get even a warning. Just a little side not here: Azerbaijan is preparing to host UEFA European under 17 Championship in 2016 and is bidding to host and on September 19th 2014, the Baku Olympic Stadium won the right to host one of the quarter-final matches and three group stage matches of Euro 2020 which will unfold across 13 UEFA member countries. Not to mention its other sporting events the country is ready to host.

But back to Rasim's case there are few more interesting details.

While Rasim was at the hospital Javid and the team's manager came to visit him. Javid said the person who called Rasim had no relationship to him but when Rasim asked "how come he knew that we just talked over the phone" the soccer player was stuck. When the police walked into the hospital room for questioning the two left the room immediately. 

Then there is the interview with Rasim's girlfriend who said that the whole medical report presented by the hospital doctor is fake. And here is why: 

"The doctor claims Rasim was taken into surgery 8pm local time. But we talked on the phone at 8.10 local time [either our surgeons are using the state of the art operating technology - which would still make an operation under 10 minutes purely impossible - or they have developed some kind of super human powers - but that too is irrelevant since they would at least be able to fake the report better]. 

The doctor also said Rasim as admitted to the hospital at 7pm, but that is also not true because already around 6 Rasim called me. He told me that he is at the hospital and that I should tell his parents". 

The whole hospital scene raises many questions and not just the timing. 

Rasim suffered from for broken ribs, and ruptured spleen. He was bleeding internally but no one seemed to be too keen on conducting thorough body examination. He was then placed in a normal hospital room, without any doctor supervision only pumped with painkillers. 

So it was natural that hours after the sedation of painkillers was gone Rasim was in much pain. 

According to Rasim's girlfriend and friends who were with Rasim at the hospital at the time, he was taken into operating room only at around 2am after which it was too late to do anything.  

So who is responsible? 

Probably not just the doctor, the soccer player and his relatives. 

Rasim was threatened before. On July 26, he asked for help via Facebook having faced threats online and not knowing what to do. Despite his appeal for help and protection, police refused to help.

In the meantime, Limassol team issued a statement, expressing deep sorrow adding the following:

“Unfortunately, our fears and deep concerns, regarding the unsportsmanlike behaviour of Javid Huseynov, which we conveyed in the most official way to the European Football Association after the first match in Cyprus in July 30, were confirmed in the most tragic way”.

Since the murder, Javid Huseynov was finally detained on August 11 and is charged with "withholding information while knowing of murder". If convicted the soccer player is facing fine in the amount of 5,000AZN and could be jailed for 2 or 3 years. Yes, just that - a man's life is lost, gone forever, and all the soccer player is getting is that.

Stay tuned for more updates on the case.  

How Azerbaijan government is lying about the costs of the games

Back in November, Azadliq Radiosu published an article on the costs of the European games. It referenced an article in a publication called Business New Europe. There, speaking on the costs of the games, the article noted an $8billion estimate in total costs of the upcoming games. This estimate was based on October 2013 projections for state budget actually noted by the authorities themselves. 

Since then, the article is not accessible. However, the issue is still available if you visit the Business New Europe website. 

 

By the way, the "sponsors" of this issue are TEAS (lobby organization with headquarters in London and run by the son of the Ministry of Emergency Situation). Pasha Bank, has links to the ruling government.

What is interesting that the government of Azerbaijan still denies the costs. It says the total costs of the games is EUR960mn [AZ] and that all final costs would be announced once the games are over. The opening alone of the games cost $95million. 

The government of Azerbaijan in the meantime is trying to lower the importance of the costs while emphasizing the image boosting side of the games. But to me looks like Azerbaijani government just spent billions to highlight the crackdown, the human rights issues and everything that is not working in the country.

And the winner in the category of ass kissing in these European Games is...

Ali Hasanov and his wife are a match made in heaven. No no, I wont be talking about their love life - disgusting. But I will talk about their "blinded love" for their "Aliyev God". Their fanatic behavior has no boundaries.

Why? Well because it is only the lowest of the low like them (and pretty much every other official working for this government) who can republish Khadija's letter written from prison and published in the New York Times on the eve of the European Games in a "slightly" readjusted wording.

In this so called letter from prison to the editors at the NY Times Khadija writes that she has been instructed by the US and that she is part of a large scale anti-Azerbaijan campaign. That she is in jail for her crimes and etc. 

But this is not surprising at all.

You see, Aliyev's minions, have done a lot to the journalists, activists, rights defenders and advocates in this country. Readers of this blog know by now well about it. From intimidation, to beating, to threats, to slander and defamation to even blackmail with sex tapes and last but not least arrests, and murder.  

But there is always room for progress. Ali Hasanov's wife, a woman of many faces, one of which calling herself an editor-in-chief of some cheap online portal publication did her best and will now get a bright golden star from President Aliyev, or from her husband, or perhaps she wont get anything at all as this line of work is part of her duties.

As if this cheap and dirty attempt was not enough, News.az- another ass kissing platform calling itself media outlet republished that letter but this time in English. Absurd! Outrageous! But hey, news.az is good - they always praise the government, write only about wonderful things that do not exist in Azerbaijan and claim to be a professional network. Professional ha! These people are disgrace to journalism.

Every day, I am baffled by how low some people are ready to fall. Just today I tried, no, I really tried, to have a conversation with my trolls. I wasted good two hours on them. But yet again, I proved myself that these are worthless creatures who do not give a spat about anything, having no respect for themselves or for this country.

Ali Hasanov's another ridiculous statement

Ali Hasanov, recently promoted minion, ehm... excuse me... government official proclaimed Azerbaijani media is free like a bird. The head of the political and public affairs department at the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration said the country cannot imagine its existence without free and independent media. 

Well Mr. Hasanov, I have got news for you - free and independent media imagines its existence without you! 

You didn't know?! I hate to break it to you but thats the truth. 

I thought you would know by now especially after you have managed along with other hard-working minions, ehm... excuse me yet again... government officials to shut down any independent media?! 

But I must say there is so much truth in your words like when you said "unverified, tendentious or ordered information make its way into media" - you of all people know how well this process works in Azerbaijan. 

But in case you think other countries might get misled by Azerbaijani news - do not worry. Pretty much everyone knows how you have silenced Azerbaijan's independent media and that all that's left isn't really media but a weak and pathetic platforms that I personally feel sorry about - because these so-called media platforms and those so-called journalists are nothing more but your apologists. Too bad for them. As they waste their lives being a tool in the hands of people like you. Although who knows, their salaries might be making them happy to be tools. In this case, too bad for their dignities. 

Oh and one more thing, since you are so worried about "humanity" as you mention in your speech, can you spare at least a bit of that and get our political prisoners out? Or your humanity is only enough for your international image?! Enough to recognized existence of political prisoners elsewhere but in your own country?! Yea, I thought so... That you lack the courage and what it takes to be a true politician is something that everyone knows and "not only in our country but throughout the whole world". 

Perhaps Mr. Hasanov, you take this advice: get a life and stop being a tool in someone's hands. Although you might be an already lost cause. 

Joint Statement of Civil Society Delegates to the 2013 Internet Governance Forum

See the original statement. 

 

Freedom House led a delegation of civil society leaders and online activists from around the world to Bali, Indonesia for the 8th Internet Governance Forum (IGF), the UN's flagship conference for discussing global Internet policy. Following the IGF, 17 organizations and individuals signed on to a joint statement to highlight the concerns they raised throughout the Forum, and to offer recommendations to governments, internet companies, and international organizations on how to better protect internet freedoms. This statement was delivered to the Forum during the Open Mic session on the final day by Bouziane Zaid.

We, the undersigned representatives of a group of civil society leaders worldwide who attended and participated in the 2013 Internet Governance Forum (IGF) on October 22-25 in Bali, Indonesia as part of the Freedom House delegation, make this statement at the meeting’s conclusion to highlight a number of opinions we expressed and concerns we raised throughout the Forum.

The 2013 IGF provided a valuable space for the members of our group to engage with other stakeholder groups, through the Forum’s sessions and also through side meetings and consultations with representatives of governments, businesses, the technical community, multilateral bodies, and civil society organizations from all over the world. We urge all stakeholders to continue to engage and participate in future IGFs, to strengthen the Forum’s multistakeholder process, and to uphold the principles of openness, transparency, and inclusiveness. Without the IGF, there is no comparable venue for civil society to directly raise its perspective and concerns with leaders in the government, the private sector, and the technical community.

We share the sentiment with the vast majority of IGF participants that the Internet governance process can and should be improved, but stress the importance of upholding and strengthening the multistakeholder approach to ensure that the internet remains open, global, secure and resilient. In calling for more efforts to promote, protect, and advocate for human rights online, our group has underscored broad principles and recommendations, such as:

1. All laws, policies, regulations, terms of service, user agreements, and other measures to govern the internet must adhere to international standards of human rights, including but not limited to Article 19 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights, guaranteeing the right to freedom of expression; Article 12, guaranteeing the right to privacy; and Article 20, guaranteeing the right to free association. As an important step, states and other stakeholders must look to Human Rights Council Resolution 20/8 – adopted by consensus in July 2012 – affirming “that the same rights that people have offline must also be protected online, in particular freedom of expression,” and pledging to explore further “how the Internet can be an important tool for development and for exercising human rights.” This applies to ending illicit online surveillance by any government. To be legitimate and lawful, any surveillance must be limited, targeted, used to deter or investigate criminalized activity, and subject to independent judicial oversight.

2. Consistency across the many spaces for discussion around Internet governance issues – including those spaces clustered around regional, sub-regional, national, linguistic, and other groupings –  is crucial to ensure the principles of openness, transparency, and inclusiveness are upheld in all venues. This is not multistakeholderism for multistakeholderism’s sake, but rather recognizing the need to represent all voices, perspectives and interests in setting standards, norms, and policies that affect the internet, both locally and globally. The term multistakeholder is overused and applied to a wide range of events, groups and processes. Various international organizations, as well as national governments, must make it a top priority to replace lipservice to multistakeholderism with genuine efforts to bring all stakeholders to the table on equal footing.

3. Transparency and accountability are crucial next steps in the internet governance discussion, and need to be fully implemented by all stakeholder groups. Businesses are beginning to recognize transparency reports as serving their users and their corporate social responsibilities, as well as their bottom-line interests. Governments likewise should ensure that their policies and practices are fully transparent as a means of preserving their legitimacy, credibility, and moral authority with their own citizens and the international community. In instances of content censorship, surveillance, shutting down or deliberate slowing down of networks, and other methods of internet control, these two stakeholder groups must work independently and together to divulge details about these measures and have them open to public debate. In addition, governments should institute strict controls on the export of surveillance and filtering technologies to regimes that have failed to demonstrate a commitment to upholding human rights, while the private sector should take a close look at some of their own practices in this domain. In some countries, bloggers, activists, and other internet users are subject to beatings, imprisonment, and even murder when they post information critical of the authorities.

We thank the government of Indonesia for its warm hospitality and dedicated efforts in successfully hosting the 8th annual meeting of the Global IGF. Despite the confusion during the summer over whether the event would be held in Bali, we were able to convene our delegation of civil society advocates, activists and academics from more than 18 countries. However, three of our colleagues had to cancel their attendance owing to visa issues. The letter granting certain registered participants permission to obtain visas upon arrival in Indonesia came too late, was rejected by airline officials, and was not extended to participants from all countries. For future IGFs, it would be preferable to announce the visa on arrival special procedure well in advance and officially notify the appropriate channels.

Thank you.

Signatories:

- Freedom House
- The Unwanted Witness, Uganda
- Jorge Luis Sierra, México
- Damir Gainutdinov, Russian Federation, AGORA Association
- Nighat Dad, Pakistan, Digital Rights Foundation
- Artem Goriainov, Kyrgyzstan, Public Foundation “Civil Initiative on Internet Policy”
- Giang Dang, Vietnam
- Fatima Cambronero, Argentina, AGEIA DENSI Argentina
- Michelle Fong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong In-Media
- Dalia Haj-Omar, Sudan, GIRIFNA
- Bouziane Zaid, Morocco
- Syahredzan Johan, Malaysia
- Juned Sonido, Philippines
- Myanmar ICT for Development Organization (MIDO)
- Cambodian Center for Independent Media (CCIM)
- Mahmood Enayat, United Kingdom, Small Media
- Abeer Alnajjar, Jordan
- Arzu Geybullayeva, Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan's ENP progress report

This is from a recent progress report released by EU on European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) and the country progress evaluations. You can read full report here.

Freedom on the net 2011

After having celebrated the World Press Freedom Day yesterday, the report published by the Freedom House 'Freedom of the Net' came in handy especially as the report sheds light on some of the countries and issues discussed during the World Press Freedom Day. 

The description of the newly published report on the Freedom House website reads:

[...]This report examines internet freedom in 37 countries around the globe. The study's findings indicate that the threats to internet freedom are growing and have become more diverse. Cyber attacks, politically- motivated censorship, and the government control over internet infrastructure have emerged as especially prominent threats. 

Some of the countries as ranked "Not Free" include Iran, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, China and Burma. It came as a relief to see Azerbaijan rank among the countries listed as "Partly Free" however it was only a partial relief knowing how pressing media and internet freedom is in Azerbaijan. You can see the full list of score table here and the cluster map here.   

Below you can see the Azerbaijan evaluation of the report, while the full report can be accessed here. 

Azerbaijan2011

Blackout for Hungary (Updated)

http://bbc.in/edZ4CV

'On the 21st of December the party holding the majority of the Hungarian parliament voted in favor of a new media law that is a collection of some of the most oppressive and undemocratic laws from all over Europe including some worrying additions. 

To show our concern for fundamental rights and free speech we black out our online presence of the 5th January 2011 for at least 24 hours.'

I learned about this through a friend who tweeted this link to me. Once you proceed to the site, you can find several ways to support the cause by either copy pasting the html code or putting banners and messages like the one you see below that would be displayed on your sites and blogs.

Lets support the cause!

You can find a lot more on the following websites and blogs:

• http://www.kosmopolito.org/2010/12/26/budapest-we-have-a-problem-censorban/
• http://esbalogh.typepad.com/hungarianspectrum/2010/12/the-hungarian-media-law-is-passed.html
• http://esbalogh.typepad.com/hungarianspectrum/2010/12/quite-a-day-serious-warnings-for-hungary.html
• http://esbalogh.typepad.com/hungarianspectrum/2010/12/protest-over-the-new-media-law.html
• http://esbalogh.typepad.com/hungarianspectrum/2010/12/the-pressure-on-the-hungarian-government-continues.html
• http://esbalogh.typepad.com/hungarianspectrum/2010/12/some-historical-perspectives-on-freedom-of-speech.html
• http://esbalogh.typepad.com/hungarianspectrum/2010/12/self-censorship_at_mti.html
• http://esbalogh.typepad.com/hungarianspectrum/2010/12/viktor-orbáns-views-on-the-media-law.html
• http://esbalogh.typepad.com/hungarianspectrum/2010/12/viktor-orbáns-views-on-the-media-law.html
• http://www.bloggingportal.eu/blog/european-blog-action-against-censorship-in-hungary/
• http://globalvoicesonline.org/-/world/eastern-central-europe/hungary/
• http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/26/AR2010122601791.html
• http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/27/AR2010122702864.html?hpid=opinionsbox1
• http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6BK6KF20101221
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12051665

Democracy facing tough challenges under the current Azeri government

The following posting contains excerpts from a recent publication by a think tank group affiliated with an independent news agency in Baku.

"During the first five year tenure of President Aliyev, democracy, human rights and the media freedom have suffered a big setback. Despite constitutional norms, Azerbaijan has been dismantling key democratic principles".

The report also states that in contrast to late President Heydar Aliyev, the current President (his son) Ilham Aliyev, has been departing from principles of European values turning the country into "depoliticized, homogenous, one- dimensional society controlled by permanent 'caste of the selected'".

In addition, while Ilham Aliyev, might take the credit for the highest economic growth (in the world: in 2006, Azerbaijan's GDP amounted to 34.5% growth) the country witnessed starting in  2005, it is not his trophy to claim, as the 'seeds' of this 'black fruit' were planted during his fathers' times back in the 90s, when the famous (or infamous) "contract of the century" was signed (1994) between Azerbaijan state oil company and foreign international oil companies (BP, Amoko, Statoil, Lukoil and others).

But not to deviate from the subject, one doesn't need to ponder upon how Democratic Azerbaijan is. Simply check out Freedom House rankings of Azerbaijan (2007), and you will see that this country is nowhere near to a democracy, let alone its values (Azerbaijan ranks 6 in political rights, 5 in civil liberties, non free in status, 6 in national democratic governance and 6.25 in corruption- the scale 1-7: 1 being a good system and  7 being the worst).

And now, with recent constitutional changes regarding the election of the president (according to Azerbaijan constitution an individual running for the presidency could not be elected more than twice- not anymore) and the extension of the presidential term to 7 years, it no longer makes sense to even ask the question of whether Azerbaijan ever be a democracy. It is pointless to talk about democracy and democratic values in a country where the state and its officials don't even know what a democracy means anyway...