Press release
Azerbaijan: The Government Presents Another Face than Reality
The third periodic review of Azerbaijan by the UN Human Rights Committee has been held on
20 July and is still being held on 21 July 2009. The freedoms of expression, association, and
assembly are currently under serious threat in Azerbaijan. Human rights defenders and
journalists are being attacked by unidentified people on a regular basis – for the most part, these
acts are not investigated or persecuted by government and legal officials. Additionally, human
rights defenders and journalists are being attacked by agents of the Government themselves.
The human rights situation in Azerbaijan is getting worse by the minute, despite the efforts of
the international community.
8 organisations and partners of the South Caucasus Network for Human Rights Defenders have
published a report, reflecting the real situation in Azerbaijan:
• Violence against women is widespread. Insufficient measures are taken by the Government to
reduce domestic violence. There is urgent need for the creation of shelters for victims of domestic
violence and for the implementation of special programmes for rehabilitation of victims of
domestic violence. At present, the Criminal Code does not specifically criminalize domestic
violence, but this should be revised by the Government.
• There is an urgent need to change the definition of rape. By international standards, the definition
of rape is that rape has occurred if the victim has not agreed to a sexual act. In Azerbaijan, the
family of the victim must testify to the occurrence of rape and there has to have been an “existence
of resistance”.
• The judiciary system in the country is neither fair nor independent from the Government. The
NGOs show in their report that there are numerous cases where the Justice did not allow free trials
for accused human rights defenders and journalists.
• The NGOs have also presented 10 cases in which the freedoms of expression and opinion for
human rights defenders and journalists have been violated.
Most recently, Emin Milli, the “Alumni Network” Youth Organization Coordinator and the ANTV
Online TV Leader, and Adnan Hajizade, one of the “OL” Youth Organization’s coordinators and a
well-known video-blogger, have been severely beaten by unidentified persons. The police in the
Sabail District denied medical assistance to Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli and detained them under
charges of hooliganism. Both were denied access to lawyers of their own accord until the following
day. On July 10, 2009, the Sabail District Court sentenced the activists to two months in pre-trial
detention. On July 20, 2009, the Baku Appellate Court rejected the appeal for Adnan Hajizade and
Emin Milli to be released from pre-trial detention. As said by Florian Irminger, Head of the Geneva
office of the Human Rights House Foundation, to the Human Rights Committee, “this very recent
event demonstrates the poor reality in Azerbaijan and reflects the situation in the country for human
rights defenders and journalists.”
Rasul Jafarov, representative of the Baku based Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Security, was
present at the third periodic report of Azerbaijan and commented, “the Government of Azerbaijan did
not present the real situation to the UN Human Rights Committee. It presented another face than the
one it uses to rule in Azerbaijan.”
For more information:
• Rasul Jafarov, Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Security
+994 50 58 63 537 (in English, Russian or Azeri)
• Florian Irminger, Head of the Geneva office, Human Rights House Foundation
+4179 751 80 42 (in English, French or German)
Azerbaijan: The Government Presents Another Face than Reality
