The Human Rights Center of Azerbaijan, one of the most active human rights NGOs in the country, celebrates its 15-th Anniversary today. The organization, headed by Eldar Zeynalov (right), aimed at the struggle against political censorship and made a major contribution to the movement of journalists, human rights defenders which ended up in the liquidation of the political censorship. Currently, the HRCA is a significant actor in monitoring, education and protection of human rights in Azerbaijan. (29-APR-08)

Written by Shahla Ismayilova / HRH Azerbaijan on the basis of information from HRCA, photo by Shahla Ismayilova 

The Human Rights Center of Azerbaijan was registered in the Ministry of Justice only in December 1999, after 6,5 years of activity. The work of the Center is targeted at the respect of political and civil rights of the people of Azerbaijan.

The HRCA is a member of International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), International Helsinki Federation of Human Rights (IHF) and OMCT. The Center has a advisory status in UN and the Council of Europe and is the member of a number of national, regional and international networks. The Human Rights Center co-founded the federation of Human Rights Organizations in 2002, together with other 4 human rights organizations.

At the moment, the experts of HRCA visit the prisons, prepare alternative reports for UN, publish books, help prepare individual appeals to the European Court on Human Rights, compose the lists of political prisoners, visit the conflict zones. The members of the HRCA take part in the work of the Public Committee within the Ministry of Justice and the Working Group on Political Prisoners.

Since 2004 the HRCA is one of the 9 members of the Human Rights House in Azerbaijan.