Conference focused on the human rights situation in Azerbaijan

On 7 September, the Human Rights House Network, in cooperation with OSCE, International Service for Human Rights (ISHR), Geneva, and the Swedish Helsinki Committee organized a conference in the Azeri capital of Baku. The conference focused on the human rights situation in Azerbaijan, especially in the build-up to the Parliamentary elections in November. (26-SEP-05)

The conference gathered many organizations from the Azerbaijan and also from the Caucasus region, as well as international organizations and representatives from the embassies in Azerbaijan. UN Special Representative of the Secretary General on Human Rights Defenders, Hina Jilani (left), also attended the Conference, and gave a special presentation on her mandate, and a chance to human rights defenders, particularly from Azerbaijan, to raise concerns about the challenges they face directly with her. 

Photo: Baard Brinchmann Løvvig


-We need freedom of expression and association, and rule of law
As one of the challenges for Human Rights Defenders in Azerbaijan, representatives of the Swedish Helsinki Committee, OSCE, Human Rights Watch, TURAN Info Centre and MP PACE delegations underlined freedom of association, rule of law and freedom of expression. They agreed that these topics are among the most significant for the development of democracy in Azerbaijan, and in its neighbouring contries as well.

-NGOs have important roles to play
Having in mind up-coming elections in Azerbaijan in November, organizers of the Conference gave special attention to election monitoring of human rights in states in transition, with particular cases addressed from Croatia, Uganda, Azerbaijan and Belarus. Representatives from these countries tried to hand down their experience from elections in their states, and the important roles to be played by nongovernmental organizations in the processes of election monitoring. Concerning the up-coming elections, representatives from several local NGOs, and also from Council of Europe presented the situation in Azerbaijan, and their joint and separate efforts to improve it.