w
w
w
.
i
r
f
s
.
o
r
g
TO:
Mr.
Holger
K.
Nielsen,
Minister
for
Foreign
Affairs
CC:
Members
of
Danish
Parliament;
Members
of
Danish
Government
December
13,
2013
APPEAL
Weak
document
undermines
human
rights
and
civil
society
work
in
the
Eastern
Partnership
countries
Your
Excellency,
We
are
writing
to
express
our
deep
concern
regarding
the
Danish
Neighborhood
Programme
2013-‐2017,
the
document
which
clearly
lacks
long-‐term
strategic
vision
for
the
Eastern
Partnership
region
and
undermines
international,
regional
and
national
efforts
to
promote
human
rights
and
democratization
in
this
complex
but
important
region.
At
the
same
time,
we
would
like
to
enquire
about
Danish
government’s
strategy
for
human
rights
and
democratization
in
Azerbaijan
over
the
next
few
years.
While
Sweden,
Norway,
Netherlands
and
other
European
countries
consistently
backed
the
human
rights
and
civil
society
work
in
Azerbaijan,
Denmark
has
chosen
a
different
approach.
As
evidenced
by
exclusion
of
Azerbaijan
as
a
country
from
the
Danish
Neighborhood
strategy,
the
Danish
government
seems
to
be
less
concerned
about
human
rights
and
democratization
when
it
comes
to
Azerbaijan
than
other
countries
of
the
Eastern
Partnership.
The
Danish
Neighborhood
Programme
2013-‐2017
sets
Armenia,
Belarus,
Moldova
and
Ukraine
as
priority
countries
for
Danish
development
assistance
in
the
Eastern
Partnership
region,
passing
Azerbaijan
and
Georgia.
In
the
light
of
recent
political
developments
around
Vilnius
summit,
this
choice
has
proved
to
be
a
failure.
Rather
than
signing
and
initialing,
Ukraine
and
Armenia
rejected
an
Association
Agreement
with
the
European
Union.
Due
primarily
to
Russian
pressure,
Armenian
President
Sarkisjan
declared
in
September
that
his
country
would
not
sign
the
agreement
and
would
join
the
Eurasian
Customs
Union
instead
1
.
Azerbaijan
is
currently
negotiating
the
contours
of
its
own
partnership
track
with
the
EU,
and
the
international
community
continues
to
encourage
Azerbaijan
to
build
the
democratic
and
economic
institutions
and
conduct
the
reforms
necessary
for
a
deeper
relationship
with
the
Euro-‐Atlantic
community.
As
a
civil
society,
we
believe
that
a
democratic,
prosperous
and
secure
Azerbaijan
will
benefit
not
only
the
Azerbaijani
people
but
also
its
neighbors,
i.e.
Armenia
and
Georgia.
There
is
certainly
a
space
for
Denmark
to
play
a
role
here,
and
we
call
on
the
Danish
government
to
revisit
Danish
Neighborhood
Programme
2013-‐2017,
and
immediately
start
negotiations
with
Azerbaijani
civil
society
vis-‐à-‐vis
promotion
of
human
rights
and
good
governance.
We’ve
been
lacking
that
Danish
government
attention
and
support
since
the
of
media
and
democratization
program
funded
by
Danida,
and
implemented
by
International
Media
Support
(NB:
program
ended
in
2012).
In
the
meantime,
we
call
on
your
ministry
to
closely
monitor
implementation
of
the
new
Danida’s
Technical
Assistance
to
the
Media
and
Democratisation
Programme
in
the
Eastern
Partnership
Countries
and
Turkey
(2012-‐
2016)
2
.
We
have
serious
concerns
over
design
and
implementation
of
this
action.
It
has
been
a
year
now
since
the
1
2
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/67482
http://um.dk/en/danida-en/activities/business/contracts/long/contracts-awarded-by-danida2/contracts-awarded-by-danida-2012/