The Economic Research Center (ERC) is a policy-research oriented

nonprofit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...

founded in 1999 that strives to facilitate

sustainable economic development Sustainable development is an approach to growth and human development that aims to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.United Nations General Assembly (1987)''Report of the ...

and

good governance Good governance is the process of measuring how public institutions conduct public affairs and manage public resources and guarantee the realization of human rights in a manner essentially free of abuse and corruption and with due regard for t ...

in the New Public Management system of

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

. The Azerbaijani authorities have made it illegal for NGOs to receive foreign funding in 2014 and in addition to that the bank accounts of the Economic research center were frozen. The Economic Research Center could not function in the same way afterwards and ceased its research for several years. In 2015 during a police raid the computers and documents were seized. This raid was a part of ta larger crackdown on NGOs in Azerbaijan. The acts of the authorities were challenged in courts and it became a matter of a case at the

ECtHR The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...

in which the court ruled that the bank accounts are to be reopened. The director of the ERC at the time, Gubad Ibadoghlu, later left the country to continue his work in exile. In July 2023 the office of the Economic Research Center was raided by the police again, this time in connection to Gubad Ibadoghlu's arrest; documents and computers were seized during the search and the office itself was sealed.

Research

Before the crackdown and freezing of the accounts, the ERC focused on monitoring and scrutinizing the government spending, the budget and policies. Since 2018 the ERC restarted publishing its reports and monitoring data, such as its report on the Azerbaijani government's mine removal efforts in

Karabakh Karabakh ( ; ) is a geographic region in southwestern Azerbaijan and eastern Armenia, extending from the highlands of the Lesser Caucasus down to the lowlands between the rivers Kura and Aras. It is divided into three regions: Highland Kara ...

that shows that prime agricultural land in the region was seized by Aliyev's family and his closest allies. The other report from 2019 has presented the data that shows the cotton industry in Azerbaijan using child labor, forcing students into working and committing other labor and human rights violations.

References

External links

ERC Homepage
Think tanks based in Azerbaijan 2000 establishments in Azerbaijan Research institutes established in 2000 Research institutes in Azerbaijan Economy of Azerbaijan {{Azerbaijan-org-stub