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The new Azerbaijani oil boom has brought a flood of foreign investment to Baku, but many local Azerbaijani employees are complaining they are working hard in poor conditions and reaping none of the rewards. Mirvari Gahramanly, chairman of the Committee of Oil Industry Workers´ Rights Protection,  says that the contracts signed by the CCIC, main contractor in the construction of BTC, were not in keeping with Azerbaijani employment practices. (21-FEB-2005)

The World Bank approved a US$11.5 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) Economic Development Support Project.  This project aims to improve living conditions, enhance economic opportunities and prospects for social integration for IDPs. Azerbaijan’s armed conflict with Republic of Armenia over the Upper Garabagh region, which lasted from 1992 to 1994, left over 30,000 dead and over 1 million people displaced. About 575, 000, or 15 percent of the country’s population, became “internally displaced persons.” (17-FEB-2005)

The European Union has expressed its concerns over the conclusions of the February 4 OSCE report on trial monitoring in the Republic of Azerbaijan. “The report shows that in some important respects, the trials fell well short of Azerbaijan’s existing legal requirements and its international commitments on human rights and the rule of law.” The report also called for publication of the results of the investigation into the excessive use of force by security forces during the post-election riots on October 16, 2003. (16-FEB-2005)
 

“I am sure the newly opened Resource Center in Goychay district will serve as a contribution to enhance the respect for human rights in the region in general and the development of civil society specifically and the promotion of democracy. Hopefully, the local NGOs in Goychay could benefit from establishment of the Resource Center” says Novella Jafaroglu Appelbaum, Marshall Prize winner and the director of the Association for the Protection of Women’s Rights after D. Aliyeva (APWR). The APWR, which has the largest network throughout the country and great experience in setting up resource centers, targets to open several new Resource Centers on human rights in remote parts of Republic of Azerbaijan during the year. (10-FEB-2005)

“Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is ready for a dialogue with the opposition”, says the Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) Christian Strohal. “The President assured me that he is ready for a dialogue with political forces”, he told a press conference on Friday. “We are ready to support a dialogue between the authorities and the opposition”, Strohal said, stressing the need for such a dialogue prior to the parliamentary election due this autumn, Assa-Irada reported.(10-FEB-2005)

“The disputed presidential elections of October 2003 and rigged municipal elections of 2005 in the Republic of Azerbaijan proved that the local NGOs should work dynamically and actively with the general public, particularly with those living in remote areas. For the reason that these people are lack of the awareness on basic electoral rights and other fundamental civil rights. At present, we should focus on purging the cynicism in society against free and fair elections.”, says Fuad Hasanov, the director of the “Against Violence” Human Rights Centre (AVHRC). (10-FEB-2005)

“Many people addressing to our Committee are mostly those who suffered and were terribly tortured by police. Nowadays, our citizens are so awfully tortured in police stations and military units. There is no strange that it is impossible to surprise the people of Republic of Azerbaijan if someone beaten and tortured in police station will be killed there. The tortures are so much terrible that everybody will confess in any crime that he had never committed. All society of our country is aware of the fact that if somebody had been in police station could die as a consequence of tortures; nobody will be punished for this”, says Elchin Behbudov, chairman of Republic of Azerbaijan Committee Against Tortures (ACAT). (9-FEB-2005)

“I think all the items inserted into the OSCE report are true to the facts.” This is how human rights activist Murad Sadaddinov commented on the provisions of the OSCE report on people convicted for involvement into disturbances, which happened just aftermath the disputed presidential elections of October 2003. Leyla Yunus, Director of Institute of Peace and Democracy, said that OSCE recommendations to the Azerbaijani authorities to pay compensations to the suffered people must be immediately carried into life. (9-FEB-2005)

The decision to set up the OSCE fact-finding mission was made after Republic of Azerbaijan put the issue of Armenians? settlement in the occupied lands on the agenda of the UN General Assembly session. -Only a democratic development in the Republic of Azerbaijan and Republic of Armenia will garanty a peaceful solution of the conflict, the chairman of the Republic of Azerbaijan Popular Front party, Ali Kerimli, said in a meeting with the Norwegian Helsinki Committe, Human Rights House Foundation and Amnesty International  when he visited Oslo yesterday (2-FEB-2005)