Improvement of police and media relations

Azerbaijan is a signatory of a number of conventions and agreements which entail commitments, such as right to free life, work, and education that are granted to citizens by the Constitution. A Law adopted "On Access to Information" should be considered as a continuation of such reforms. However, the previous and current practice demonstrates the problems with application of laws. These problems are mainly reflected in the relationship between the representatives of mass media and law-enforcement during mass events and demonstrations.

The objective of this project is to improve the relations between media and law-enforcement agencies. In particular:

• To initiate the establishment of the permanent local platform for dialogue between police and media via conducting regular round-table discussions with participation of high level local representatives of Iaw enforcement agencies, human rights defenders, media and a moderator from the OSCE Office in Baku, in order  to exchange information and experience and to give an opportunity to parties to seek ways to resolve the concerns and encourage the co-operation on local level.
• To conduct Interviews with police officers and journalists on the issues related to co-operation and newspaper coverage of the interview results in order to raise public awareness on actual problems of police - media relations.