Azerbaijan, Baku / corr. Trend I.Khalilova / Supported by Open Society Institute ( Budapest), the Institute for Media Rights held an investigation of the information climate in Azerbaijan in accordance with the law on Receiving Information. It was made clear as a result of the investigation that 230 inquiries have been sent to 144 organizations over the period of 1 - 15 January.
The inquires have been prepared by the experts of the Institute and sent to the employees of the newspapers in the Parliament, various ministries, State Agencies and committees, executive powers, municipalities, courts, Central Election Commission, Collegium of Advocates, State and private universities and public organizations. Of them, 100 inquires have been replied. It was made clear during the monitoring of the implementation of inquires that the responses are mainly incomplete or have not been duly provided.
Assisted by the lawyers of the Institute, law suits have been raised with regards to 21 State organizations for breaking the law, of which only eight have been fulfilled. Complaints have therefore been made to high authorities regarding those which have not fulfilled the lawsuit.
Unwilling approaches to the inquires were made by the Ministry of Justice, Interior Ministry, Ministry of Emergency Situations, Ministry of Transport, State Social Protection Fund, State Customs Committee and the Executive Power of Baku City.
Comprehensive responses to the inquiries were provided by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, National Bank of Azerbaijan, State Oil Company of Azerbaijan and the State Commission for Student Admission.
Prompt responses (within eight days) to the inquiries were provided by only five organizations, State Statistics Committee, Central Election Commission, Taxes Ministry, SOCAR and Constitutional Court.
As a result of the monitoring, it was made clear that only SOCAR provided a timely and comprehensive response.