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1. What to change?
Inequality and discrimination are one of the most serious troubles of Azerbaijani society. They are mainly manifested in the fact that social privileges with a political basis are granted by the political power. The inequalities that are plaguing society today are not a direct product of socio-economic conditions but arise as a manifestation of political authorities granting special privileges to certain groups.
It should be noted that the above-mentioned inequalities lead to the profound formation of endemic (systemic) privileges in social relations. The main area where political privileges exist is accompanied by the distribution of government-controlled resources (public services, state-controlled natural resources, public infrastructure projects) among government-backed or pro-government groups. Furthermore, political favoritism also manifests itself in the area of public service recruitment. Recruitment to the civil (public) service is not based on objective criteria, but on proximity to power and political expediency.
It should be noted that the act of making distinctions between people is not in itself considered discrimination. Different actors make distinctions of various nature as part of their daily activities. One such actor is the state. The state can also make different distinctions. Thus, for distinctions made by the state to be considered discrimination, they shall meet the following criteria:
- If the distinction has an illegitimate (unacceptable) purpose (an illegitimate purpose is when such a purpose does not follow from the constitutional foundations of public administration);
- If the distinction is not objective and justified.
When any of these criteria (i.e. illegitimacy or non-objectivity and irrationality) is present, the then distinction becomes discrimination in the legal sense. Thus, discrimination is an illegitimate, non-objective and (or) unjustified differentiation by the state in relation to certain subjects.
Discrimination is divided into two parts according to its typology: de jure discrimination and de facto discrimination. De jure discrimination is based on legislation. De facto discrimination is the result of the application of legislation in practice. The most common form of discrimination in Azerbaijan is de facto discrimination. Thus, there are serious problems in the government's application of laws and these problems are accompanied by de facto discrimination against various groups, especially opposition groups. The current authoritarian regime prevents people associated with these groups from engaging in various spheres and deprives them of many opportunities. These deprivations include being deprived of various platforms, professions and financial resources.
Another group subject to discrimination in Azerbaijan includes religious communities and their members who do not agree with the current government or whom the government does not consider acceptable, albeit remaining within the constitutional legal framework. Such religious communities are subjected to various types of pressure. Illegal and illegitimate barriers are imposed on their activities. Moreover, their religious propaganda is subject to various legal sanctions or illegal persecution.
Gender discrimination in Azerbaijan is endemic and stems from traditional gender stereotypes rooted in society. One of the subjects of gender discrimination is women. Although legislation formally enshrines gender equality, in practice discrimination against women is widespread and the state does not take the necessary measures to prevent this. Discrimination against women is mainly observed in cases such as sexual harassment, sexual violence, early marriages and restrictions on access to the right to education, domestic violence, selective abortion and femicide. At the same time, politically motivated structural discrimination is also evident in women's political representation. Women are underrepresented in crucial professions (including political positions). Gender discrimination is also widespread in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity. LGBTIQ+ citizens, on the one hand, are subjected to various types of violence, harassment and public stigmatization by their immediate environment and other non-state (private) actors. On the other hand, they face structural violations committed by law enforcement agencies.
One of the groups subjected to widespread discrimination are ethnic minorities. The discrimination suffered by ethnic minorities is essentially due to native language and cultural rights. The state systematically fails to fulfill its positive obligations with regard to native language and cultural rights and ethnic minority activists demanding rights on these issues are subjected to political persecution.
Discrimination is thus a serious problem in Azerbaijan, as in many societies, and affects many groups in society.
2. How to change it?
Legal regulation:
Comprehensive measures shall be taken to eliminate inequality and discrimination. Among these measures, formal-legal measures come first. Formal-legal measures are the declaration of the prohibition of discrimination through the legislation (domestic/national legislation) of a country. This is primarily done through the Constitution. Currently, discrimination is prohibited in Azerbaijan at the constitutional level. However, the prohibition of discrimination shall be clarified and elucidated through ordinary legislation. For this purpose, a unified and advanced anti-discrimination law shall be adopted in Azerbaijan. This law shall meet European standards. At present, there is no such unified anti-discrimination law. Prohibitions on discrimination are provided for in various legislative acts. However, these prohibitions are still declarative in nature and do not have a detailing feature. Thus, the practical application of the prohibition of discrimination in legal practice is unclear. The prospective anti-discrimination law should eliminate this gap and serve as a clear guideline for legal practice.
Of course, clarification at the legislative level is not enough. In addition, guidelines (instructions) shall be developed for public authorities that are more evident and in line with legal practice (state practice). Through both legislation and sub-statutory guidelines, the prohibition of discrimination shall aim to prevent de facto discrimination at the state level by making it clear to public officials. We are guided by this goal as a transformative political movement.
Practical application:
In practice, the following steps should be taken to eliminate the problem:
Without political will, no anti-discrimination objective will be able to fulfill its function. Therefore, at the highest level, political will is a sine qua non (indispensable) condition.
Moreover, illegitimate interventions shall be eliminated. To this end, a package of reforms on civil and political freedoms shall be implemented. Of course, there is no confidence that public bodies will be able to fully regulate themselves. Therefore, it is necessary to create legally independent controlling public institutions and prepare the ground for public (civil society) oversight. To achieve this goal, unjustified barriers to civil society shall be eliminated.
It is necessary to adopt legislative acts based on positive experience that ensure transparency.
Anti-corruption legislation shall be adopted and applied in accordance with the GRECO standards of the Council of Europe.
Necessary institutional reforms shall be implemented for the professional and meritocratic bureaucracy.
The combined (cumulative) effect of political will and control over the adoption and practical implementation of the above-mentioned legislative acts can pave the way for preventing endemic discrimination.
3. How to be?
Equality and inequality are one of the main aspects of public debate throughout history and to the present day. Many thinkers and doctrines have tried to find a solution to the problem of equality in different ways. In this regard, the concept of equality has acquired ambiguity and does not have a specific meaning. There are different approaches to equality. Among them, however, two approaches occupy the main place. These include:
1 - Equality of opportunity;
2 - Equality of outcomes.
Equality of opportunity refers to a state of equality in which people are treated equally, without artificial barriers, prejudice or choice. The only exception to this case is that different distinctions are justified. Equality of opportunity is not an obstacle to legitimate meriocracy. The purpose of equality of opportunity means that subjective characteristics such as gender, language, ethnicity, origin, religion, race and caste should not be taken into account in the allocation of resources. Through equality of opportunity, discrimination can only be allowed for objective purposes. However, the attempt to achieve resource access based on subjective affiliation through well-established relationships is contradictory to the concept of equality of opportunity.
Equality of results (conditions) - in contrast to equality of opportunity, as a political ideal means the same or similar allocation of financial means and wealth for all living in society, as well as the creation of social status for living in similar economic conditions. The goal of equality of outcome is to create full socio-economic equality. Equality of outcome focuses on the results, not the creation of initial chances. According to the concept of equality of outcome, everyone can live in almost similar or exactly the same economic conditions. Equality of outcome is based on taking extensive measures (installation of programs and their application) to create such conditions for everyone.
As a platform, we are based on the political concept of equality of opportunity. Our goal is to ensure the creation of equality of opportunity in Azerbaijani society. We believe that it is possible to create the necessary legal framework and achieve equality of opportunity through its implementation. We also think that it is practically impossible to achieve equality of outcomes and acting in this direction will ultimately result in a waste of society's resources. Therefore, we consider equality of opportunity as a possible and even optimal way.
Discrimination is the imposing of individual and institutional differences on individuals and groups within a society, not according to justified and objective characteristics, but on subjective and unjustified grounds. Discrimination can arise from prejudice and subjective hatred (hostility). Discrimination can manifest itself in two ways: first, through individual measures; second, by being an institutional phenomenon. Institutional discrimination is a more complex problem. Because it requires serious institutional reforms (modifications) to alter and eliminate it. However, such reforms are usually very difficult to implement and require serious political will and consistent action. In most cases, political groups fail to achieve such reforms even in developing countries. Therefore, eliminating discrimination shall be one of the main objectives of the platform. To achieve this goal, the organization shall undertake a series of legal and institutional reforms.
Nepotism is the basis of tribal relationships in the division of duties and provides access to decisive, as well as secondary positions of persons who have come out of a certain tribal framework. Nepotism is one of the main causes of corruption in public administration. Therefore, nepotism can be considered one of the main causes of corruption. Given this, countering nepotism and eliminating its consequences shall be one of the main goals of the innovative political movement.
As a result, the ideal of a fair society requires at least ensuring equality of opportunity by eliminating inequality, legal and institutional struggle against discrimination, as well as eradicating favoritism, especially nepotism.
