Freedom House: "Azerbaijan: Some democratization slippage"

The report, titled Nations in Transit 2006, identifies several disturbing trends in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan and other nations in the European Union's "Eastern neighborhood," including weak political institutions, plummeting standards, expanding limits on press freedom and rampant corruption. The accumulation of wealth, through the development of energy resources, does not stand to foster stable societies, the report suggests.

"National leaders in these countries appear not to understand that improving accountability will provide citizens what they want – prosperity and rule of law – and would give their states more options internationally," the report's editor, Jeannette Goehring said in a written statement.

"Instead, they are taking advantage of high energy prices by building authoritarian regimes," Goehring continued. The report also singles out Russia for criticism over President Vladimir Putin's evident disdain for democratization. The Kremlin's backsliding is all the more serious, given Russia's broad political, economic and social influence throughout the countries of the former Soviet Union.

The Nations in Transit 2006 report characterizes Azerbaijani government as an "authoritarian regime." But it points out that several incidents in 2005, including the murder of journalist Elmar Huseinov, raises questions "about the cohesiveness of the ruling administration."

According to the report, President Ilham Aliyev continues to consolidate his authority at the expense of democratic practices. Cosmetic changes to election legislation did not prevent the November 2005 parliamentary elections from falling short of international standards. The report states, "Despite the president's June [2005] decision to allow opposition rallies, the right to assemble publicly continued to be considered a privilege by authorities, as local committees saw fit to hinder, prohibit, or break up opposition rallies."

A democratization rating system developed by Freedom House shows Azerbaijan either remaining the same or slipping in all seven categories in which it was graded. The areas in which Azerbaijan lost ground were electoral process and civil society. Overall the country averaged 5.93, a score which keeps it in the "semi-consolidated authoritarian regime" category and marks a dip on last year's score of 5.86. According to Freedom House, the ratings are based on a scale of 1 to 7, with 1 representing the highest and 7 the lowest level of democratic progress. The country's electoral process score fell to 6.50 from 6.25 in 2005.

Economic stability has helped President Aliyev to execute "overwhelming authority in Azerbaijan's governmental system" relying on use of force tactics rather than the rule of law, the report says. Azerbaijan's National Assembly continued to rubber stamp the authority of the president while maintaining a low profile. The country's score in both the national democratic governance and local democratic governance categories remained unchanged at an even 6 points.

The civil society sector continued to encounter tax, registration and funding difficulties and NGOs linked to the opposition, particularly the Yeni Fiker (New Thinking) youth organization, faced increased pressure. As a result Azerbaijan's civil society rating fell from 4.75 to 5.00.

The country's judicial framework and independence indicator sat at 5.75 in a year that saw the apparent engineering of trials against former ministers and members of the opposition, and allegations of torture, corruption and bias. Several riots in high security prison no. 11 near Baku during February 2005 led to the dismissal of Aydin Gasymov, the deputy minister of justice in charge of the penitentiary system, in connection with abuse and corruption. Among the claims under investigation are forgery of release documents, misappropriation of the budget for prisoner's food, and the rape of eight women visitors.

Independent media suffered during 2005, highlighted by the murder of Huseinov, a prominent anti-corruption journalist. "Although it unlikely that President Aliyev himself had any role in or knowledge of Huseinov's assassination, it was certain to have been precipitated by some forces within the current administration," the report alleges. The country's rating for independent media remained at an even 6.

Endemic corruption in every sector continues to undermine civil society, the report indicates. According to a 2004 survey, 33 percent of Azeris have paid bribes, another 20 percent have been asked but did not pay. The most common occasion for bribery was seeking medical care or procuring better school grades for children. The growing oil economy has bolstered patronage networks and new wealth "appears to reinforce the position of deeply entrenched, corrupt elites, hindering hopes that Azerbaijan might change into a transparent society from its current state as an opaque economy," the report adds. Azerbaijan's corruption ranking held steady in 2006 at 6.25.

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