Azernews.Az

BAKU – A law on defamation will be passed in Azerbaijan by the end of 2011, the head of media watchdog International Press Institute has said in conclusion of a visit to Baku.

IPI director Alison Bethel McKenzie told a news conference Friday that during their meetings in Baku IPI representatives were informed that the country’s media watchdog Press Council is drafting such a law jointly with the OSCE, and this work is being finalized.

According to McKenzie, Presidential Administration official Ali Hasanov told IPI officials that the law is to be adopted this year, which will remove clauses on prosecuting journalists from Azerbaijan’s laws.

McKenzie said IPI experts will scrutinize the initial draft of the law to determine the extent of its compliance with international standards.

The government’s efforts to pass such a law are worthy of praise, she added.

During their talks in Baku, IPI representatives also called on the Azerbaijani government to establish the office of a media ombudsman. McKenzie said setting up such a body would increase the skills of journalists and help to resolve their problems.

"We raised this issue in our meetings with government officials and hope that our proposals will be taken into account," she said.

According to McKenzie, Ali Hasanov, head of the Presidential Administration’s social and political affairs department, pledged during the talks that the issue would be solved.

The Law on Access to Information, passed in Azerbaijan in 2005, envisioned establishing the institute of a media ombudsman, but such a body has not been set up to date. Last year, parliament approved amendments to the law, granting these credentials to the Ombudsperson, the country’s senior rights defender. The measure drew criticism from some media organizations.