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Recently founded by the U.S. State Secretary, AWARD for COURAGE found its laureate in the Republic of Azerbaijan – Ms. Novella Jafaroglu (on the right) – the chairwoman of the Association for Women’s Rights Protection after D.Aliyeva and representative of Human Rights House Baku, received the award “Woman of Courage” for her work and achievements in the sphere of protection for freedom and human dignity. Novella Jafaroglu was awarded by the US Ambassador to Republic of Azerbaijan Ms. Anne Derse on the 13-th of April 2007. (15-APR-07)

Being one of the biggest global problems, breast cancer is widely spread in the Republic of Azerbaijan too. According to the official statistics, the number of women with breast cancer in the Republic of Azerbaijan is raising to 15% every year. The Women’s Association for Rational Development (WARD) implements the project “Women against Breast Cancer” which supposes the Breast Cancer Awareness in 15 poorest villages in the outskirt of Baku. (04-APR-07)

OSCE Media Freedom Representative Miklos Haraszti (on the right) released his annual report on media freedom in the OSCE space. According to Haraszti there are still serious problems in the Azerbaijan’s media sector, like the unsolved murder of Elmar Huseynov, the unjustified eviction of Azadlig Newspaer, Turan and other media organs from Khagani 33 last fall, and the imprisonment of satirist/journalist Sakit Zahidov. (29-MAR-07)

The Citizens’ Labor Rights Protection League implements the project “Monitoring of Social-Economical Rights in the Republic of Azerbaijan and Organization of Campaigns”. As a project result, there was prepared the final Report, the preparation of which was based on the application of different monitoring tools. The chairman of CLRPL Sahib Mamedov (on the right), emphasized the importance and necessity of the project realization. (17-MAR-07)

The U.S. State Department released its annual Human Rights Report. “Harassment and violence against individual journalists continued [in Azerbaijan],” the report read. Underlining the deterioration of the situation of the freedom of expression, the section of annual report on Republic of Azerbaijan lists and described numerous cases of intimidation against journalists in the country in 2006. (11-MAR-07)

“When I am hit below the belt, it is difficult to think of ethics. I have developed my own code and this is not the code of a journalist, this is a code of guerilla war. We are not a media outlet. We are guerrillas,” said Elmar Huseynov in one of his last interviews to the BBC. Two years passed since the murder of Elmar Huseynov, Monitor Magazine Chief Editor, who was shot to death in the hallway outside his apartment; but the case remain unsolved and his murderers are still at large. (03-MAR-07)

Being an informal non-governmental campaign launched after the fraudulent presidential elections in the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2003, the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan Initiative aims at supporting the process of democratization and defends human rights in the Republic of Azerbaijan. The activists of Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan Initiative commemorate the second anniversary of Elmar Huseynov’s murder by a picket in front of Azerbaijani Embassy in the Republic of Poland and the statement, addressed to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland Ms. Anna Fotyga’s prior to her visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan. (02-MAR-07)
 

At the end of February, Holly Cartner Executive Director Europe and Central Asia division Human Rights Watch sent a letter to Republic of Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, expressing the deep concern about the rapidly deteriorating environment for independent media in the Republic of Azerbaijan. The letter urged the President to take steps to end impunity for violence against journalists and ensure that Republic of Azerbaijan complies with its international commitments to freedom of expression and the press. (28-FEB-07)
 

Azerbaijani people are mourning on the 15-th anniversary of the Khojaly tragedy, the Azerbaijani town where Armenian and Russian army conducted the unseen cruelty and barbarity to the innocent peaceful population on the night of 25 February 1992. Within the night over 600 civilians were killed, 56 of which were killed with particular cruelty. Azerbaijani people all over the country and beyond its borders revered the memory of the killed compatriots by attending the memorials in their honor, making the awareness-raising actions and rallies to spread the information about the tragedy. (25-FEB-07)