Posts Tagged ‘Azerbaijan’
August 18, 2014
An array of international human rights organisations have over the last weeks focused on Azerbaijan. These four reports together give a shocking picture of the kind of repression that awaits human rights defenders: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Civil Rights Defenders (NGO), Front Line, HRW, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 4 Comments »
Tags: Abdul Abilov, Azerbaijan, blogger, Civil Rights Defenders – Civil Rights Defenders, corruption, Council of Europe, Emin Huseynov, Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), foreign funding, freedom of association, Front Line (NGO), HRW, Human Rights Defenders, Human Rights House Foundation, Intigam Aliyev, journalists, Leyla Yunus, Rasul Jafarov, resource extraction
February 25, 2014
Twenty trainers from among Azerbaijani lawyers and human rights defenders have been trained to apply the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the Revised European Social Charter (RESC), with a particular focus on anti-discrimination standards, AzerTag state news agency reported. The last of three four-day training sessions for Trainers took place in Baku, Azerbaijan, on 20-23 February.
Twenty lawyers and human rights defenders were selected for training via competition to share their experiences with colleagues through a series of cascade trainings, which will start in March 2014 and continue even after the joint project of the Council of Europe and European Union is completed. The Justice Academy of the Republic of Azerbaijan is the key local partner in this project.
“This activity is one of the most important activities within the capacity building project for lawyers and human rights defenders, and I believe that the advocates and human rights defenders attending this programme have obtained essential benefit from the shared knowledge and they will put this knowledge and information into practice …” said Teymur Malik-Aslanov of the Council of Europe Office in Azerbaijan.
[This activity is a regional project implemented in Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, the Russian Federation and Ukraine.]
via CoE, EU train Azerbaijani lawyers – AzerNews.
Posted in EU, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: anti-discrimination, Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani, AzerTag, Baku, Council of Europe, EU, European Convention on Human Rights, Human Rights Defenders, lawyers, Revised European Social Charter, the European Convention on Human Rights, training courses
December 20, 2013
On 9 December 2013, Ihlam Amiraslanov was granted early release from prison after serving two-thirds of his sentence. He had been sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for illegal possession of weapons on 12 September 2012 in Sabirabad District Court. Ilham Amiraslanov is an active member of Kura Civil Union and a prominent figure in the movement for justice for the victims of the flooding of the Kura River in May 2010. On 8 June 2012, Ilham Amiraslanov was arrested by police officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. On 12 September 2012, he received a two-year prison sentence under the Azerbaijan Criminal Code. This conviction was upheld by the Court of Appeal. Ilham Amiraslanov’s trial was marked by serious irregularities, including the refusal by the judge to hear the defense witnesses. Ilham Amiraslanov’s lawyer stated that the charges were politically motivated and that neither the investigation nor the trial were conducted objectively.
For more information on this case, see Ilham Amiraslanov’s page on the Front Line Defenders website.
Azerbaijan: Update – Human rights defender, Mr Ilham Amiraslanov, released from prison | Front Line.
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Azerbaijan, Baku, Front Line Defenders, Human rights defender, Ihlam Amiraslanov, Ilham, Ilham Aliyev, Ilham Amiraslanov, illegal detention, Kura Civil Union, Kura River, Ministry of Internal Affairs, President of Azerbaijan, prison sentence, release
November 27, 2013
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 2 Comments »
Tags: Aliyev, awards, Azerbaijan, Buzzfeed, Committee for Protection of Journalists, Committee to Protect Journalists, Freedom House, human rights, human rights awards, Human Rights Watch, Idral Abbasov, Ilham Aliyev, Journalist, Miriam Berger, President Ilham Aliyev, Press Freedom, Rory Peck awards
October 2, 2013
In the context of reprisals here is a report from Panorama concerning Azerbaijan, admittedly from an Armenian news source: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Armenia, Autonomous Republic, Azerbaijan, elections, Human right, Human Rights and Liberties, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, OSCE, Panorama, reprisals, September 2013, threats, Turkey, Vasif Talibov
September 4, 2013
On 28 May 2012 I congratulated Loreen – the Swedish winner of the Eurovision song festival – as she was the only of the contesting artists who stood up for human rights. During her visit to Baku she visited human rights defenders at risk during a meeting the NGO Civil Rights Defenders arranged. The Government of Azerbaijan tried to downplay the issue by saying that music and human rights have to be separate, but it is shocking that a number of musicians seem to agree with this position.
The New-York based Human Rights Foundation, on 3 September 2013, reports that the American musician Kanye West performed at the wedding of President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s grandson last Saturday night in Kazakhstan. He reportedly received $3 million for the private engagement in the oil-rich former Soviet state, which has been autocratically since 1991. West’s lucrative private performance comes on the heels of a similar concert given by Jennifer Lopez for the dictator of neighboring Turkmenistan earlier this summer, which sparked a worldwide media interest. At the time, Lopez claimed ignorance of Turkmenistan’s notorious human rights abuses. West is not the first global celebrity to be approached to play in Kazakhstan: in 2011, Sting refused to play a private concert there, citing concern over the repression of workers in the country.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 2 Comments »
Tags: Azerbaijan, dictatorship, Eurovision Song Contest, eurovision song festival, human rights, Human Rights Foundation, Jennifer Lopez, Kanye West, Kazakhstan, Loreen, music, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Sting, Turkmenistan
September 3, 2013
A recent 100-page report by Human Rights Watch, “Tightening the Screws: Azerbaijan’s Crackdown on Civil Society and Dissent,” documents the dramatic deterioration of the government’s record on freedom of expression, assembly, and association in the past 18 months. The authorities have arrested dozens of political activists on bogus charges, imprisoned critical journalists, broken up peaceful public demonstrations, and adopted legislation imposing new restrictions on fundamental freedoms.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in HRW, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: activism, Azerbaijan, Civil society, critical journalists, Election, facebook, freedom of expression, Giorgi Gogia, HRW, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, Human Rights Watch, illegal detention, imprisonment, judicial harasment, protest, twitter
May 20, 2013
A long and very interesting blog post on Al-Jazeera (http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/05/2013519690697916.html) by Rebecca Vincent goes back to Azerbaijan 2012 and reflects on the pros and cons of boycotts as an action to tool for human rights defenders:
“As an estimated 125 million viewers tuned in to watch the grand final of the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö, Sweden, on May 18, I could not help but think how different this year’s Eurovision experience was from last year’s, when the contest was held in Baku, Azerbaijan. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Al-Jazeera, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Baku, blog, boycott, Denmark, Eurovision, Eurovision Song Contest, festival, human rights, Loreen, Malmö, Rebecca Vincent, tactics
March 7, 2013
( Ane Tusvik Bonde of HRHF and Intigam Aliyev with the Homo Homini Award received on 4 March 2013)
In its intervention on 5 March 2013 at the Human Rights Council, the Human Rights House Foundation (HRHF) welcomed the reports of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, including the one to the General Assembly on legislation affecting human rights defenders. HRHF stated that they are concerned, as is the Special Rapporteur, by the fact that more and more countries misuse or design legislation in order to impede or even criminalise the work of human rights defenders, or to label them as “foreign agents” such as in the Russian Federation.
HRHF especially welcomed the communications re Azerbaijan, as published in the addendum to the Rapporteur’s report, including the communication about the closure of the Azerbaijan Human Rights House on 16 March 2011 and the warnings against two NGOs threatened to be closed for their online publications on 5 March 2012. This communication has still not been answered. HRHF also regretted that Azerbaijan has not to date replied to the communication of the Special Rapporteur in relation to the arrest of photographer and blogger Mehman Huseynov, a case it already brought to the attention of the Council in July 2012.
Azerbaijan continues to use detention of human rights defenders as a tool to silence them. Most recently, on Saturday 26 January 2013, Intigam Aliyev was amongst 47 other demonstrators arrested for peacefully protesting in Baku. He was awarded the Homo Homini Award in Prague on 4 March, for his exceptional and courageous work in favour of human rights. Intigam Aliyev’s remains disbarred and his NGO blocked. In relation to this protest of 26 January, Emin Milli was sentenced to administrative detention for 15 days for promoting the protest on Facebook in violation of article 298.1 and 298.2 of the code of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Emin Milli was previously detained for 16 months along with Adnan Hajizade for publishing a critical video on Youtube. http://humanrightshouse.org/Articles/19109.html
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 3 Comments »
Tags: Adnan Hajizade, Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan Human Rights House, disbarment, Emin Milli, facebook, freedom of expression, Homo Homini Award, HRHF, Human right, Human Rights Council, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, Human Rights House Foundation, Intigam Aliyev, lawyer, Mehman Huseynov, Prague, Special Rapporteur, UN, video, You Tube
February 20, 2013
On 17 February 2013 I wrote about the case of Eynulla Fatullayev, editor of the website Haqqin.az, a former AI prisoner of conscience and winner of press freedom awards (see also quote at the end of this post) who seems to have taken a more apologetic stand with regard to violations in his home country Azerbaijan. Just a few days before – 11 February – the NGO Civil Rights Defenders had published a piece under the title: ‘New crackdown on human rights activities in Azerbaijan’. There seems to be no stand taken by Fatullayev (at least not in English).
Avaz Zeynalli, chief editor of Khural newspaper, charged for tax evasion and corruption.
The Azeri government is putting new pressure on the country’s already repressed civil society. NGOs that receive even minor funds can be severely punished, according to a new draft law. The draft follows a series of repressions of media workers and civil activists. According to the proposed amendments NGOs receiving donation over the equivalent of 190 euro without a proper agreement, face up to 3500 euro and confiscation of property. This increases the authorities’ control over NGOs. The violations have grown in the beginning of 2013. Media workers that have been covering demonstrations and riots have been arrested, questions and in some cases beaten. At the same time the homes of journalists and civil activists have been searched, detained, subjected to gas attacks, put under surveillance and in other ways obstructed in their work. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Azerbaijan, Civil Rights Defenders, Civil society, detention, Eynulla Fatullayev, Fatullayev, Freedom (Azerbaijan), freedom of expression, freedom of the press, International Press Institute, IPI, journalists, judicial harassment, NGOs, Unesco
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 