It is possible to overcome corruption in Azerbaijan! How?

Upon the decision of the United Nations General Assembly, December 9 is marked as the International Anti-Corruption Day. Under the auspices of the UN, demonstrations, meetings and seminars, dedicated to this day, are conducted in many countries worldwide.
The UN Convention against Corruption was opened for signature on Dec. 9, 2003 in Merida (Mexico). In 2005, the Convention entered into force as an international legal instrument obliged to be implemented by the participating sides. Along with Ukraine, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Russia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan has also ratified the agreement. Thus, the Republic has claimed responsibility for the execution of this document, the main objective of which is the following:

The purpose of the Convention is to prevent and eradicate corruption, promote and support international cooperation and technical assistance in the prevention and control, including measures on asset recovery.

International organizations promote integrity, responsibility, and proper management of public affairs and public property. The UN believes that "corruption undermines economic development, weakens democratic institutions and the rule of law, violates public order and destroys public trust, thus giving the opportunity to flourish organized crime, terrorism and other threats to human security."

According to the annual rating of Transparency International (TI) non-governmental organization, which estimated the index of corruption in 178 countries, the corruption now covers three-quarters of the planet. The best indicators in this respect were recorded in Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore, the worst situation in Somalia, Myanmar and Afghanistan. In this case, the United States for the first time could not get into the twenty leaders.

Azerbaijan has improved its indicators from 2.3 points in 2009 to 2.4 points in 2010. It should be noted that in 2008 Azerbaijan had 1.9 points. Level of corruption is defined by special methodology, which includes data analysis and assessments regarding the state of affairs in the country, by various international institutions and private entrepreneurs. Also the state of legislation, supremacy of law, freedom of entrepreneurship, the implementation of international commitments and others are analyzed and taken into account. The data are used from open sources, as well as information from official agencies.

Last year, the authors of the report commented on improvement of Azerbaijan's position as following:

Most probably, this was the result of the Government's efforts to improve the business climate and grow public awareness of the need to reduce corruption. Over the past five years, the TI centers for anti-corruption legal aid - assisting citizens in defending their rights during facing with cases of corruption - have been opened throughout the country, and the government entered into an open dialogue with civil society through a network of local NGOs working to combat corruption and the National Department of TI in Azerbaijan.

At the same time, TI notes that despite the above-mentioned positive developments, corruption remains deeply rooted in society. The Government of Azerbaijan should improve procedures for the conduct of relevant norms in order to ensure the effectiveness of anti-corruption legislation. Besides, TI considers any result below 3 points "a disgrace to the nation" that is forced to live in a totally corrupted state.

Corruption Perceptions Index for 2010
South-Eastern Europe, Eastern Europe and Central Asia

International Organization fairly estimates the improvement of the situation with the corruption in Azerbaijan. Of course, there are many nuances, upon which extortion and bribery thrive in the country, but at the state level, a struggle is conducted against this evil - it is a fact. Maybe not everything, but these facts can be expanded in terms of importance as follows:

1. Ensuring transparency during the recruitment for the civil service. This is an area formerly thriving business of big money in exchange for getting jobs in the state organization. But now all state agency officials are employed through competition, which takes place in two stages. The first stage is a test exam conducted with the participation of local and international observers.

2. Positive changes are observed in increasing access to information. For example, 90 percent of state agencies already have web sites. Some of them not only offer information, but also deal with complaints and appeals of citizens through e-mail. Even closed to the public, the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan presented to the public the latest version of its website. According to SCC chairman Aydin Aliyev, the website provides all the necessary information on the work of the Committee. The site has also created an opportunity to directly contact with the SCC chairman. All calls received from citizens have been considered or are under consideration. This site is one of the major steps in improving the efficiency in customs. 

It should be noted that this year the Cabinet of Ministers approved the Programme of activities for the formation of "e-government", the implementation of which will reduce the human factor to zero.

3. Also an important innovation in the fight against corruption abuses is a system of registration of business entities through the principle of "single window" at the Ministry of Taxes, which has been introduced in the country since Jan. 1, 2008. Through this step, Azerbaijan has become a leader in the field of economic reforms in Doing Business 2009 report by IFC and the World Bank. The principle of "single window" is currently implemented in the field of customs and registration of real estate.

To minimize corruption factor and improve the business environment, the IFC recommends to introduce the principle of the electronic registration of business entities in Azerbaijan. The Taxes Ministry of the country is already working to introduce online registration of individuals, and this process is being completed.

In 2005 Azerbaijan adopted an Anti-Corruption Law, aimed at identifying, preventing and liquidating offenses related to corruption, protecting social justice, civil rights and freedoms, creating an enabling environment for economic development, ensuring rule of law, transparency and efficiency of public and local self-government agencies, officials. The Law also envisages to strengthen public confidence in public authorities, promote flow of professional personnel in government agencies and local governments, create conditions that exclude those individuals committing offenses related to corruption.

In summer 2007, the President of Azerbaijan approved the National Strategy for increasing transparency and combating corruption and implementing its Action Plan for 2007-2011. The agencies responsible for combating corruption are the Anti-Corruption Commission under the President and Anti-Corruption Department under the Prosecutor General's Office. Ratified by the Azerbaijani Government, the United Nations Convention against Corruption also plays its role. The effectiveness of the fight against corruption is that the cooperation between different internal agencies is increasing and in turn, the cooperation with the international organizations strengthens.

It should be noted that an increase is recorded in the dynamics of the disclosure of crimes related to corruption. Over the past 5 years, the Anti-Corruption Department under the Prosecutor General's Office has investigated 265 criminal cases against 480 people. In 2009 the Department completed investigations over 133 criminal cases involving 235 people. For comparison, in 2005, 35 people were charged of corruption, in 2006 - 79 people, in 2007 - 69 people, in 2008 - 121 people.