Transparency International under pressure in Azerbaijan
| Publisher | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| Publication Date | 27 August 2014 |
| Cite as | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Transparency International under pressure in Azerbaijan, 27 August 2014, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/542ac6b2e.html [accessed 5 June 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
August 27, 2014
By RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service
Rena Safaraliyeva, executive director of Transparency Azerbaijan, says the group has been unable to receive funds from abroad.
Transparency International's office in Baku says it is being forced to suspend some of its projects in Azerbaijan because of problems receiving funds through its bank in Baku.
Transparency Azerbaijan executive director Rana Safaraliyeva told RFE/RL on August 27 that her team has not been able to receive financial support in the form of bank transfers from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) for two months.
She said the Baku branch of Unibank, the bank used by her nongovernmental anticorruption group, has been returning wire transfers of funds sent by USAID – citing technical problems.
Safaraliyeva's remarks come less than two weeks after Human Rights Watch said Azerbaijan's government was pressuring independent organizations that are involved in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, an international coalition that promotes openness in the oil and natural-gas industries.
In its August 15 statement, Human Rights Watch said Baku's pressure on groups involved in that anticorruption initiative included the freezing of bank accounts and was part of a broader crackdown that has been escalating since the 2013 presidential election.
Link to original story on RFE/RL website
