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Thank you, Mr Chairperson, 

The Human Rights House Foundation acknowledges the releases of leading civil society figures detained in Azerbaijan, especially Rasul Jafarov Anar Mammadli, and N!DA activists. We call upon the authorities to immediately and unconditionally drop all restrictions put upon Intigam Aliyev, Rauf Mirkadirov and Khadija Ismaylova, following their release on probation. 

None of them should have been imprisoned in the first place and all must be fully rehabilitated in their civil and political rights. We further call upon Azerbaijan to immediately and unconditionally release Ilgar Mammadov in line with the judgement of the European Court of Human Rights, as well as the remaining journalists and youth activists. 

Azerbaijan continues to arbitrarily detain civil society actors, and this Human Rights Council must address this. We therefore welcome the recent visit of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan’s practice of arbitrary detention shows that the judiciary is not independent and that the authorities do not respect basic principles of the rule of law. This is reflected in the poor detention conditions in the country; the repressive environment in which human rights defenders, lawyers and journalists operate; and the general lack of acceptance by the authorities of peaceful dissenting voices, indispensable for a true and real dialogue between the government and civil society.

In this regard, we worry about the false drug charges brought against two youth activists Giyas Ibrahimov, 22, and Bayram Mammadov, 21, detained on 10 May 2016.  As stated by the Working Group, “physical sequels” of ill-treatment were observed on both of them.

Mr Chairperson, 

The authorities should be creating an enabling environment for human rights defenders, in line with Human Rights Council and General Assembly resolutions on human rights defenders, but instead they have constructed an environment in which civil society actors are at their mercy, with mechanisms restricting the registration of NGOs themselves and their grants, whether from national or from foreign donors.

We therefore call upon the authorities to quickly formally agree on an official visit of the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of association and peaceful assembly, and to foresee an action plan to implement his recommendations. Bank accounts of at least 10 NGOs are arbitrarily frozen simply to prevent the concerned NGOs from operating, including the NGOs of recently released human rights defenders. The authorities continue to lead proceedings against at least 28 international NGOs.

The country must bring its legislation on NGOs in line with its international obligations. United Nations special procedures and Council of Europe mechanisms have underlined that legislation affecting civil society in Azerbaijan is excessively restrictive.

We call upon the authorities to fully cooperate with the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders in view of his upcoming official visit to Azerbaijan, and foresee an action plan to implement his recommendations. The same is true for NGOs, which should be allowed to operate in the country, free from interference and hindrance.

We call upon Azerbaijan to immediately and unconditionally drop all investigations into Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and allow it to operate freely, as an essential first step to stop the crackdown on free media. The authorities must also drop all investigations against individual journalists working for Meydan TV.

Mr Chairperson,

Despite the gravity of the crackdown in Azerbaijan, to date this Human Rights Council has failed to provide an appropriate answer to the human rights situation in Azerbaijan. This Council has the responsibility to protect civil society space in any country, and must take action on Azerbaijan.

Thank you Mr Chairperson.