Six months after lodging its application with the Ministry
of Justice for registration as a non-governmental organisation, the Azerbaijani
chapter of the International Religious Liberty Association (IRLA) seems no
closer to gaining legal status. "We applied to the Ministry of Justice six
months ago but as usual it provides us with no reply," secretary-general
Ilgar Ibrahimoglu told Forum 18 News Service from the capital Baku on 9 May. He
said he and his colleagues intend to consult the head office of the IRLA in the
United States and "will probably" challenge the denial of
registration through the courts. The head of the registration department of the
justice ministry said he "couldn't remember" the IRLA chapter's
application. "We get many applications," Fazil Mamedov told Forum 18
from Baku on 12 May.
Ibrahimoglu noted also that the Centre for Protection of Religion and Freedom
of Conscience Devamm, of which he is senior coordinator, has likewise failed to
gain registration. "We are very sorry that although it is already more
than two years since Devamm submitted its documents to the Ministry of Justice,
our centre has not yet been registered," he told Forum 18.
The IRLA, which was originally founded by Seventh Day Adventists, describes
itself as "a non-sectarian association, chartered in 1893, to promote
principles of religious freedom around the world". Its Azerbaijani
chapter, founded by representatives of a variety of faiths at a constituent
conference held in Baku from 30 September to 1 October 2002, submitted its
registration application to the justice ministry on 19 November.
Curiously, in the light of the denial of registration to the IRLA, the chairman
of the State Committee for Work with Religious Organisations Rafik Aliev
continues to cite the IRLA chapter's existence as evidence of what he regards
as the Azerbaijani government's benign attitude to religious freedom. "The
branch of the International Religious Liberty Association (IRLA), whose
headquarters is in Washington, was recently opened in Baku," Aliev wrote
on 2 April to US congressman Chris Smith and US senator Sam Brownback in a
response to their criticism of violations of religious liberty in Azerbaijan.
Devamm has, if anything, encountered even more opposition from the authorities
in its work to promote religious rights. "Devamm conducts single-minded
work to establish civil society and widely promotes within society such values
as tolerance, religious tolerance, the defence of individuals' rights and basic
freedoms, and the defence of freedom of conscience and faith," the group
declares. It has taken up the cases of Muslim women who wish for religious
reasons to wear headscarves in photographs on official documents. It has also
protested against the requirement in Azerbaijan's religion law that all Islamic
communities must be subject to the Board of Caucasian Muslims, which is led by
Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade, arguing that this violates the
constitutional separation of religion from the state.
After receiving no reply to its registration application within the first year,
Devamm lodged a complaint to the court. "It is widely known that courts in
Azerbaijan are not independent," Ibrahimoglu reported. "Yet despite
this - and having taken into account international public pressure - the Court
nevertheless recommended to the Ministry of Justice to register Devamm."
He said that after making minor adjustments to the application his organisation
again submitted their application to the justice ministry. "However, there
has not been any result for six months," he told Forum 18 sadly. He said
Devamm is again preparing a legal challenge to the refusal to register the
organisation.
After initial denials, Mamedov of the justice ministry eventually admitted to
Forum 18 that he did recall Devamm's original application and the subsequent
legal case. However, he claimed that the court had ruled against Devamm. He
said he could not remember anything about any subsequent application.
At the same time Mamedov insisted there is no ban on registering
non-governmental organisations that campaign for religious rights and religious
freedom. "The only ban is on organisations that violate the constitution,
such as those that call for the overthrow of the constitutional order or incite
racial or religious hatred," he told Forum 18. He added that of the 1,500 or
so registered NGOs, some 40 are human rights groups.
Without being able to recall the IRLA's or Devamm's applications for
registration, Mamedov said he was unable to respond to the question of why they
had not been registered.
An official of the Baku office of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation
in Europe (OSCE) highlights the difficulty of registering NGOs of any sort.
"Obtaining registration which, one would presume, is an automatic and
simple act constitutes a major problem here," human dimension officer
Branislav Solovic told Forum 18 from Baku on 12 May. "This is, of course,
in breach of all possible human rights standards and OSCE commitments." He
said the OSCE office has been trying to exert some "positive influence"
but with "limited" success.
He said a new Law on Registration of Legal Entities pending in parliament
should, according to officials, improve the situation by replacing
"registration" with "notification". "It has however
been pending for more than a year and nobody from outside has ever seen
it," Solovic told Forum 18. "Thus, our trust in quick improvement is
limited."