Joint NGOs’ statement on AZERBAIJAN at the 28th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council

Item 4General debate

Joint NGOs’statement

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This joint statement is delivered by the Human Rights House Foundation on behalf of joint NGOscoalition, composed as following:
Civicus, Article 19, Human Rights Watch, the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR), theInternational Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture in theframework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders.

Thank you, Mr Chairperson,

Since the presidential election in October 2013, Azerbaijan is leading a crackdown against humanrights defenders and, more generally, against any independent voices in the country. As a result,unrelenting crackdown on human rights, key leaders of human rights organisations are behind bars, aswell as leading journalists and other peaceful activists, including many activists of the youth movementNIDA.

Among those detained are several of the country’s most prominent human rights defenders andjournalists. In July and August 2014, [including] Leyla Yunus1, Director of the Institute for Peace andDemocracy, and her husband, Arif Yunus, were arrested and charged with state treason, large-scale fraud,forgery, tax evasion and illegal entrepreneurship under the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan. InAugust, [as well as] Rasul Jafarov2, a human rights defender behind the “Sing for Democracy” campaign.The human rights lawyer Intigam Aliyev, President of the Legal Education Society, who assisted inbringing at least 130 cases to the European Court of Human Rights, is also arrested and charged with taxevasion, illegal entrepreneurship, and abuse of authority. We are particularly worried by the healthsituation of Leyla Yunus and Intigam Aliyev who require immediate medical support.

New amendments to registration and funding laws systematically impede access to domestic andforeign funding, including by requiring government licensing of all donors, and approval of eachfunded project, which cuts off practically all funding for NGOs that work to hold the governmentaccountable. The amendments also provide the government with enormous discretion to dissolve, imposefinancial penalties on, and freeze the assets of CSOs for minor infractions of existing laws. Of particularconcern are provisions, which prevent national organizations from accessing local cash donations, andallow the government to freeze or deny international funding to domestic CSOs if an activity is determined to “undermine the interests of the state.”

As a result, many NGOs have been forced to cease their activities and are subjected to legal prosecution.Bank accounts of more than a dozen NGOs are blocked and their offices are being searched and in somecases sealed. Many more human rights defenders have fled the country. Since May 2014, authoritieshave frozen the bank accounts of at least 50 independent organizations and, in many cases, of their staffmembers, while numerous others have been interrogated and otherwise harassed, forcing them to suspendtheir activities. In addition, several international NGOs operating in Azerbaijan, with longstandingpartnerships with local CSOs in the country, have been forced to leave Azerbaijan or suspend operations.

Mr Chairperson,

The crackdown is not limited to NGO leaders but also aims at targeting independent media in thecountry.

On 8 August 2014, police raided the offices of the Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS), aleading media rights NGO in the country, lead by Emin Huseynov who is facing similar charges as thepreviously mentioned human rights defenders.3 The Institute is now effectively closed.

On 27 December 2014, police raided the Baku office of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) andbriefly detained dozens of its staff members, questioning many. RFE/RL (it) has since been forced tosuspend its activities in Azerbaijan and is being investigated by the authorities. In addition, on 3 February2015, President Ilham Aliyev approved far reaching amendments to the law on Media and MassInformation permitting Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Justice to petition the court requesting closure of anymedia outlet that receives foreign funding or found guilty of defamation twice. The RFE Office in Baku issince closed.

At least 12 journalists remain in prison in Azerbaijan. Most recently, on 29 January 2015, [amongstthem] well-known journalist Seymour Hazi was sentenced to five years in prison on spurious‘hooliganism’ charges, after already spending five months in pre-trial detention. Hazi, a reporter with theopposition daily Azadlig, is a vocal critic of government repression of civil society. Two days earlier, on 27January 2015, the pre-trial detention of award-winning (and) the investigative journalist KhadijaIsmayilova was extended for two months. The authorities arrested Ismayilova on 5 December 2014 ondubious charges of incitement to attempt a suicide and later, on 13 February 2015, charged her with taxevasion, illegal entrepreneurship, and abuse of authority.

Mr Chairperson,

We call upon the Republic of Azerbaijan to put an end to the systematic punishment of leaders of civilsociety, and to immediately and unconditionally release all human rights defenders, journalists andactivists held in custody, and drop all charges brought against other human rights defenders,journalists and activists. We further call upon Azerbaijan to cooperate with independent human rightsmechanisms, including by ensuring their ability to conduct country visits, and are in this mannersatisfied to see that the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) has scheduled a new visit to thecountry, following the one it had to cancel in September 2014,4 and to implement legislative changes asrecommended by such bodies, including the Venice Commission and the Commissioner of the Councilof Europe.

Thank you, Mr Chairperson.

1 See also: http://humanrightshouse.org/Articles/20302.html

2 See also: http://humanrightshouse.org/Articles/20306.html

3 More information about Emin Huseynov available at http://humanrightshouse.org/Articles/20730.html.4 See the Subcommittee’s press release of 17 September 2014 athttp://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=15047&LangID=E.