Navigating a ‘Shrinking Space’: Selective In/Visibilities and EU Engagement with Civil Society in Azerbaijan

AbstractIn a context of legal and political repression, wherein even EU funding came to be politicised, Azerbaijan’s civic space has been shrinking. This article problematises EU engagement with civil society in the neighbourhood by examining its on-the-ground negotiation in a complex field of visibility. It argues that human rights groups in Azerbaijan strategically activate selective in/visibilities to navigate the competing understandings of civil society's role mobilised by the European Union and the authoritarian state. While EU support deepens the dichotomy of independent versus government-organised civil society, the emergence of new subject positions beyond the NGO realm prefigures a critique of neoliberal donor–recipient ties. I am grateful to the human rights defenders, activists and experts who contributed to this research with their time and knowledge. I thank the two anonymous reviewers, Fabienne Bossuyt, the members of my Doctoral Advisory Committee, Eske van Gils, Karolina Kluczewska and Sofie Bedford for their valuable comments. Earlier drafts of this article were presented at the panel ‘Civil Society in the Post-socialist Region: Decentring Experiences and Practices’ of the Annual Tartu Conference in June 2021 and at the 2022 Annual World Convention of the Association for the Study of Nationalities (ASN), where it received the Doctoral Student Paper award for the Caucasus section. This work was supported by the Special Research Fund (Bijzonder Onderzoeksfonds UGent) [grant number BOF.STG.2018.0006.01].Disclosure statement:No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 Amendments to the Law on NGOs, the Law on State Registration and the Law on Grants adopted between late 2013 and 2015 stipulate that donors operating in Azerbaijan have to register with the Ministry of Justice and apply for permission to be a grant-maker for a specific period of time. Each individual grant has to be registered and approved by the authorities before the beneficiary organisation can spend it. Non-registered organisations cannot be considered as grant recipients. Despite amendments brought in during 2017 to simplify these time-consuming and complex procedures, most of the influential foreign NGOs and donor institutions have left the country and the amount of aid has fallen. Fines for not complying with the law have significantly increased (Human Rights Watch Citation2016; Ismayil & Remezaite Citation2016).2 See also O’Dowd and Dimitrovova (Citation2011).3 Shirinov includes ‘independent civil society organisations’ as one of the groups constituting the political opposition in Azerbaijan, next to political parties and ‘loosely connected groups of individuals … engaged in a critical deliberation of the political realm’ (Shirinov Citation2015a, p. 172). These three categories can ‘fuse from time to time into larger societal blocks—for instance prior to elections—and challenge the government’ (Shirinov Citation2015a, p. 172).4 Due to the entrenchment of authoritarianism, EU financial support for civil society in Azerbaijan has remained limited compared to more ‘promising’ countries such as Ukraine and Georgia (Aliyev Citation2015, p. 49).5 Interview AZ9, scholar, online, 24 March 2021.6 Azerbaijan’s NGO laws do not directly imitate Russia’s Foreign Agents Law, although they share the same underlying rationale in targeting and generating mistrust vis-à-vis foreign-funded NGOs (Levine Citation2016).7 In 2013, Azerbaijan asked for the Association Agreement, under negotiation since 2010, to be replaced with a ‘lighter’ Strategic Partnership Agreement (Delcour & Wolczuk Citation2021). Two years later, resentment over the European Union ‘naming and shaming’ of human rights violations in Azerbaijan led to Baku’s withdrawal from the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, the temporary suspension of the country’s participation in the EU–Azerbaijan Parliamentary Cooperation Committee and the questioning of its participation in the EaP.8 Intigam Aliyev’s Legal Education Society provided free legal assistance to marginalised groups, as well as mass media organisations and NGOs facing politically motivated charges. In 2014, Aliyev was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison, then released by presidential pardon in 2016—though he continued to face travel restrictions.9 The EaP CSF was set up in 2009 as an EU-funded platform aimed at facilitating and strengthening the engagement of civil society in the promotion of European integration in the region.10 ‘Civil Society on the Path to Silence’, Meydan TV, 14 August 2014, available at: https://www.meydan.tv/en/article/civil-society-on-the-path-to-silence/, accessed 1 February 2022.11 Interview EU3, online, 12 March 2021; interview EU4, online, 31 March 2021.12 In January 2019, thousands of people protested for the release of anti-corruption blogger Mehman Huseynov. On 19 October the largest protest since 2013 took place in Baku, organised by a coalition of political opposition parties demanding socio-economic reforms, while the next day a feminist rally took to Baku’s central street in response to a wave of femicides (Samadov Citation2019).13 However, the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in spring 2020 was accompanied by a harsh crackdown on the political opposition.14 Interview EU3, online, 12 March 2021.15 Interview with Fatima, women’s rights defender, Baku, 16 September 2019. All names used are pseudonyms (see Appendix).16 Some NGO representatives I interviewed while researching this article have given up on obtaining legal registration; others are litigating the issue at different levels, right up to the European Court of Human Rights. In July 2019, the Court ruled that Azerbaijan’s refusal to register Rasul Jafarov’s Human Rights Club NGO had breached the European Convention on Human Rights. However, litigation is a time-consuming process for human rights defenders, and a comprehensive reform of laws and practices regulating NGOs is necessary for rulings to be fully implemented (Leach Citation2021).17 Interview AZ3, human rights lawyer, Baku, 15 September 2019.18 Interview AZ10, human rights defender, online, 2 April 2021.19 Interview with Fatima, women’s rights defender, Baku, 16 September 2019.20 Interview with Rashad, human rights defender, Baku, 15 September 2019.21 Interview with Ilkin, public intellectual, NGO representative, online, 24 January 2020.22 Interview with Fatima, women’s rights defender, Baku, 16 September 2019.23 Interview EU6, online, 10 May 2021.24 Interview EU6, online, 10 May 2021.25 Interview AZ4, civic activist, human rights NGO, Baku, 16 September 2019; interview AZ5, human rights lawyer, online, 5 February 2021; interview AZ8, human rights NGO, online, 25 February 2021.26 Interview EU2, online, 7 July 2020.27 Interview AZ11, human rights defender, online, 30 April 2021.28 Interview EU4, online, 31 March 2021.29 Interview EU2, online, 7 July 2020.30 Interview EU4, online, 31 March 2021.31 Interview EUP1, online, 5 March 2021.32 Interview with Fatima, women’s rights defender, Baku, 16 September 2019.33 Interview EU4, online, 31 March 2021.34 Interview EU3, online, 12 March 2021. The EED is a funding instrument created in 2013 by the European Union and EU member states to support civil society groups and opposition forces in the EU neighbourhood and beyond. See Tordjman (Citation2017).35 Most EED projects are not disclosed, not even to EU officials, to protect the beneficiaries’ identities.36 Interview EU4, online, 31 March 2021.37 ‘Initiatives’, European Endowment for Democracy, available at: https://democracyendowment.eu/en/our-work/initiatives.html?&filter_country=15, accessed 21 September 2023.38 Interview EUP2, Brussels, 10 June 2021.39 Interview EU2, online, 7 July 2020.40 Interview AZ2, civil society expert, Baku, 14 September 2019.41 Interview with Fatima, women’s rights defender, Baku, 16 September 2019.42 Interview AZ10, human rights defender, online, 2 April 2021.43 Interview EU3, online, 12 March 2021; interview EU4, online, 31 March 2021.44 ‘DG Near Framework Partnership Agreements’, European Commission, available at: https://ec.europa.eu/neighbourhood-enlargement/si%20tes/default/files/fpa_infographics.pdf, accessed 29 June 2021.45 Interview EUP1, online, 5 March 2021.46 Personal communication with Brussels-based human rights advocate, 29 September 2019.47 Interview with Rashad, human rights defender, Baku, 15 September 2019.48 Interview with Ilkin, public intellectual and NGO representative, online, 24 January 2020.49 Interview AZ2, civil society expert, Baku, 14 September 2019; interview with Ilkin, public intellectual and NGO representative, online, 24 January 2020.50 Interview with Ilkin, public intellectual and NGO representative, online, 24 January 2020.51 Interview AZ3, human rights lawyer, Baku, 15 September 2019.52 Personal communication with Brussels-based human rights advocate, 29 September 2019.53 Interview with Gulnar, human rights defender, Baku, 13 September 2019.54 This view was also expressed by two other interviewees: AZ1, women's rights NGO, Baku, 13 September 2019; AZ6, journalist and human rights activist, email, 11 February 2021.55 Interview AZ11, human rights defender, online, 30 April 2021.56 Interview with Fatima, women’s rights defender, Baku, 16 September 2019. This sentiment was also expressed by another informant (interview AZ2, civil society expert, Baku, 14 September 2019).57 Interview with Ali, NGO representative and former civic activist, online, 4 February 2020.58 Interview with Hasan, human rights NGO representative, online, 19 March 2021.59 Interview AZ4, civic activist and human rights NGO, online, 12 April 2021; interview AZ8, human rights NGO, online, 25 February 2021; interview AZ10, human rights defender, online, 2 April 2021.60 Interview with Hasan, human rights NGO representative, online, 19 March 2021.61 Interview AZ6, journalist and human rights activist, email, 11 February 2021; interview AZ7, women's rights NGO, online, 19 February 2021.62 Interview with Zada, freelance gender equality expert, Baku, 12 September 2019.63 Interview AZ5, human rights lawyer online, 5 February 2021.64 Interview AZ5, human rights lawyer, online, 5 February 2021; interview EUP2, Brussels, 10 June 2021.65 Interview with Kamran, youth activist, online, 13 April 2021.66 Interview AZ3, human rights lawyer, Baku, 15 September 2019.67 Interview with Arzu, youth initiative member, online, 17 March 2021.68 Interview with Leila, feminist activist, Baku, 15 September 2019.69 Interview AZ3, human rights lawyer, Baku, 15 September 2019.70 Interview AZ5, human rights lawyer, online, 5 February 2021.71 Interview with Akif, eco-activist, online, 31 March 2021.72 Interview EUP1, online, 5 March 2021.73 Interview with Akif, eco-activist, online, 31 March 2021.74 Interview with Kamran, youth activist, online, 13 April 2021.75 Due to confidentiality issues and ethical considerations, it was impossible to delve into EED-funded projects. Nevertheless, the analysis uncovered diverging negotiations of its role and legitimacy in the country.Additional informationNotes on contributorsLaura LucianiLaura Luciani, Postdoctoral Researcher, Ghent Institute for International and European Studies, Department of Political Sciences, Ghent University, Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 41, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.