Azernews.Az

BAKU – A special representative on freedom of the media is unlikely to be appointed in Azerbaijan and these credentials will be granted to the current Ombudsperson, according to changes to the country’s laws discussed in parliamentary committees on Wednesday.

The lawmakers said that to enforce the measure, changes will be made to the Constitutional law on the Azerbaijani Ombudsman. President Ilham Aliyev has sent a respective draft law to parliament.

The Law on Access to Information, passed in Azerbaijan in 2005, envisioned establishing an institute of the Ombudsman on the media. However, such an entity has not been set up to date and such an Ombudsman has not been appointed.

During discussions in the legislature, Monica Meltes, a representative of the OSCE Office in Baku, called for establishing an office of the Ombudsman to deal with media issues.

"As it was envisaged in the 2005 law, an Ombudsman on the media should be appointed. The credentials of the incumbent Azerbaijani Ombudsperson are broad as they are. Vesting the duties of the media Ombudsman in her will cause additional problems to the Ombudsperson herself. We believe that there should be a separate Ombudsman on the media."

The draft law on the proposed amendments was sent to parliament despite disagreement voiced by some lawmakers.