Azerbaijan Ngos

Cyprus is a destination country for women trafficked from Eastern and Central Europe for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Traffickers who forced women into prostitution continued to fraudulently recruit victims for work as dancers in cabarets and nightclubs on short-term "artiste" visas, for work in pubs and bars on employment visas, or for illegal work on tourist or student visas. There was increasing evidence of Chinese women being trafficked for sexual exploitation in Cyprus. The Government of Cyprus does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. Cyprus made some progress in its anti-trafficking efforts over the past year. The new police anti-trafficking unit produced successful results and showed vigilance in combating the problem. Government recognition of the problem improve ... [Read More]

Azerbaijan

According to the IOM, the Government continued to deport illegal Iranian immigrants during the year. Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to Change Their GovernmentThe Constitution and the law allow citizens to change their government by peaceful means; however, the Government continued to restrict citizens' ability to do so by interfering in local and national elections. The country is a republic with a strong presidency, and the Constitution provides for an independent legislature. However, in practice, Parliament's independence was minimal, and it exercised little legislative initiative independent of the executive. The October 15 presidential election failed to meet international standards due to a number of serious irregularities. These included the lack of a level playing field in the pre-election campaign--including a flawed candidate registratio ... [Read More]

FY 2005 NGO Guidelines for South Caucasus Programs

NGOs who wish to partner with other international or local NGOs to implement the proposed activities, should do so with NGOs that have solid track records in the region and whose on-the-ground experience would prove helpful in project implementation. Include a brief description of the capacity of the local organization to participate in this partnership. While it is unlikely that PRM will be able to award grants directly to local NGOs, PRM encourages international NGOs to partner with local NGOs and provide onward funding and oversight on projects of common interest. ... [Read More]

Azerbaijan Elections

The United States will work with the Government of Azerbaijan, the opposition, and NGOs to help Azerbaijan hold an election that meets international standards. We call on all parties, in government and in opposition, to achieve this goal through a process that will serve the public interest. ... [Read More]

Azerbaijan

A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups generally operated without government restriction, investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases. Some NGOs wholly independent of the Government were objective and effective conduits of information to local officials, the diplomatic community, and such international institutions as the Council of Europe. The Government maintained ties to some of the human rights NGOs and responded to inquiries. However, the Government occasionally criticized some human rights NGOs and activists, and the Ministry of Justice routinely denied or failed to register many groups, including human rights NGOs, although it did not try to restrict their activities (see Section 2.b.). ... [Read More]

U.S. Assistance to Azerbaijan – Fiscal Year 2004

U.S. law enforcement assistance programs help to enhance training capacity of Azerbaijani law enforcement officers and to provide counter-narcotics training and equipment. The U.S. also implements a forensics training and laboratory project and a criminal record management system project. A U.S. Department of Justice prosecuting attorney serves as resident legal advisor, and the addition of a law enforcement advisor in Baku provides support for criminal justice reforms, assistance in the development of counter-terrorism and terrorist financing legislation, support of anti-corruption efforts, development of anti-trafficking in persons (TIP) legislation, and training of police, prosecutors, and NGOs that handle TIP cases. This program also provides training of law enforcement and judicial personnel in modern investigative and prosecutorial procedures. ... [Read More]

2004 Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Azerbaijan

Many domestic and international human rights groups generally operated without government restriction, investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases. Although the Government maintained ties with some human rights NGOs and responded to their inquiries, on occasion, the Government criticized and intimidated some human rights NGOs and activists, and the MOJ routinely denied or failed to register some human rights NGOs (see Section 2.b.). ...

In April, the President issued a decree to implement the law on registering NGOs; however, the registration law remained cumbersome, and some provisions related to the liquidation of NGOs were vague. For example, amendments passed in 2003 complicated requirements to register grants from foreign entities and subjected the funds to a social security tax of 27 percent on employee salaries. However, grants from a few countries, which had bilateral agreements with the Government, were subject to a 2 percent tax on employee salaries. NGOs remained exempt from value added tax (VAT). ... [Read More]

Europe and Eurasia

The United States continued to support the development of civil society in Azerbaijan by using technical assistance, grants and exchanges to support activities of specific NGOs, encourage dialogue between the Government and civil society and educate the Government about democratic practices in the United States. Embassy officers traveled throughout Azerbaijan to support NGO activities. Grants from the U.S. Government supported a variety of projects, including helping NGO centers establish regional networks and facilitating dialogue between NGOs and government officials. These projects were critical to addressing the mistrust between the Government and NGOs, and the lack of national linkages for most NGOs. Officials from the U.S. Government also engaged with the Government of Azerbaijan to help improve cooperation between the Government and NGOs. The United States sent six Azerbaijanis representing different parts of society to the United States to strengthen their skills and understand ... [Read More]

IV. Country Narratives: Europe and Eurasia

During the September 2003 reassessment, the government announced the establishment of a victim referral system, though it was employed for only 15 victims during the reporting period. The government specifically named an Almaty-based NGO as the official NGO for referral. In about one-third of the country’s regional districts, police departments and NGOs have developed and formalized cooperative relationships to assist victims, conduct training, and investigate cases. Informal cooperative relationships exist in almost all of the 16 districts. In three districts, the lack of effective local NGOs has limited the extent of this cooperation, though local authorities in one district have cooperated with an NGO in a neighboring district to address this problem. Law enforcement agencies participated in trafficking awareness trainings sponsored by NGOs, but officials often failed to differentiate between illegal immigrants and foreign victims trafficked into the country illegally. By co ... [Read More]