The statement signed by sixteen, both national and international organisations draw the attention to the contradiction between being a member of the Council of Europe and still have continued occurrence of widespread and systematic human rights violations. 

Azerbaijani elections fail to meet international standards and despite a demand from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Venice Commission and domestic democratic bodies to ensure balanced election commissions – the ruling party is still in control of the electoral administration at all levels. Opposition parties and their members are harassed and marginalized. Demonstrations in the aftermath of the presidential elections in 2003, and parliamentary elections in 2005 were violently dispersed by the police.

The judicial system does not provide justice as it creates a climate of corruption and is in various documented cases is used as a tool to repress media and political opposition. A court has never refused to accept evidence obtained through unlawful methods (i.e. torture)

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Azerbaijan holds 7th place in the world in 2009 in terms of number of imprisoned journalists. In addition Azerbaijan has not fulfilled the obligation to transform the governmental TV (AzTV) into an independent public one. The newly established public TV is under government control.

With the adoption of the amendments to the NGO law in June 2009 by the Parliament, allows authorities to put NGOs under increased government control. According to a new decree issued in December 2009, all grant contracts should be registered within the Ministry of Justice before any activity will take place. In reality this means that no grant proposal will be implemented without prior adoption of the Ministry of Justice.

In Nakhchivan, civil society, independent media and ordinary citizens remain under constant intimidation by the authorities and live in deep poverty. In the beginning of January 2010, public protest against police abuse and violence caused a wave of arrests in the village of Bananiyar, where several people were forcibly placed in psychiatric hospital. Diplomats, journalists and human rights defenders, including the winner of the Rafto Award, journalist Malahat Nasibova, right, have been denied access to the village by the local authorities.

Based on this alarming situation the signing organisations urges the Government of Azerbaijan to:
– Fulfil its obligation to hold free and fair elections in Azerbaijan.
– Carefully study and implement the recent recommendations made by the Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture and the UN Committee Against Torture.
– Take effective measures to ensure that the Ombudsperson’s Office is in practice a functioning, independent body, in compliance with the Paris Principles, relating to the status of national institutions of human rights.
– Effectively protect media workers against attempts on their integrity and life, and to pay special attention and react consistently to such actions.
– Allow and respect freedom of association and assembly, including revision of relevant legislation in which the recommendations from the Venice Commission are taken into consideration.
– Initiate an impartial investigation into the mass arrests in the Bananyiar village in Nakhchivan and give journalists and human rights defenders the ability to operate freely in the region.

We urge the International community, represented by the Parliamentarian Assembly and the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, the European Commission, the UN Council on Human Rights, the OSCE and all its member states to call upon the Azerbaijani authorities to take the Concluding Observation of the UN Committee on Human Rights (August 2009) and the UN Committee Against Torture (November 2009) into consideration and implement them nationally.

– To support the work of the Commissioner of Human Rights of Council of Europe in the South Caucasus Region and follow up his recommendations to increase the protection of human rights defenders.
– To raise concerns over the restriction of media and the imprisonment of journalists and bloggers to the Council of Ministers.

The following organizations and persons support the statement.
Norwegian Helsinki Committee
Human Rights House Foundation
Rafto Foundation
Front Line
International Federation for Human Rights, FIDH
Institute for Peace and Democracy
Human Rights Center, Azerbaijan
Media Rights Institute
Institute for Reporters´ Freedom and Safety
Association for the Protection of Women s Rights in Azerbaijan after D. Aliyeva
Society for Humanitarian Research
Legal Education Society
Democracy Monitor – DEMO                                                                                                                                                      Democracy and NGO Development Resource Center, Nakhchivan

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