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As Eurovision starts, partnership cites Baku repression
CPJ BLOG
http://www.cpj.org/blog/2012/05/eurovision-partnership-cites-baku-repression
Press Freedom News and Views
Police in Baku arrest a man during a protest seeking reforms in
conjunction with Eurovision. (DAPD/Joern Haufe) Police in Baku
arrest a man during a protest seeking reforms in conjunction with
Eurovision. (DAPD/Joern Haufe) As the Eurovision song contest gets
under way in Baku, Azerbaijani authorities continue to suppress freedom
of expression, detaining 10 protesters on Monday, Reuters reported. The
International Partnership Group for Azerbaijan, a coalition of free
expression organizations that includes the Committee to Protect
Journalists, has launched a website, Facebook and Twitter pages to
highlight the country's long record of repression. The website and
social media platforms detail the partnership's efforts to promote
freedom of expression in the Caspian Sea nation, where over the past
decade authorities have jailed and harassed dozens of journalists
and fostered a climate of impunity in anti-press violence.
The launch follows a May 2 workshop in Geneva on press conditions in
Azerbaijan that was hosted by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU),
which oversees the organization of the Eurovision contest. Following
the workshop, CPJ and other IPGA members urged the EBU to publicly
condemn media freedom violations in the country, abandon its policy of
neutrality, and demand concrete steps from the Azerbaijani government
to improve its human rights record.
The partnership is coordinated by the UK-based free-expression
organization Article 19.
CPJ BLOG
http://www.cpj.org/blog/2012/05/eurovision-partnership-cites-baku-repression
Press Freedom News and Views
Police in Baku arrest a man during a protest seeking reforms in
conjunction with Eurovision. (DAPD/Joern Haufe) Police in Baku
arrest a man during a protest seeking reforms in conjunction with
Eurovision. (DAPD/Joern Haufe) As the Eurovision song contest gets
under way in Baku, Azerbaijani authorities continue to suppress freedom
of expression, detaining 10 protesters on Monday, Reuters reported. The
International Partnership Group for Azerbaijan, a coalition of free
expression organizations that includes the Committee to Protect
Journalists, has launched a website, Facebook and Twitter pages to
highlight the country's long record of repression. The website and
social media platforms detail the partnership's efforts to promote
freedom of expression in the Caspian Sea nation, where over the past
decade authorities have jailed and harassed dozens of journalists
and fostered a climate of impunity in anti-press violence.
The launch follows a May 2 workshop in Geneva on press conditions in
Azerbaijan that was hosted by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU),
which oversees the organization of the Eurovision contest. Following
the workshop, CPJ and other IPGA members urged the EBU to publicly
condemn media freedom violations in the country, abandon its policy of
neutrality, and demand concrete steps from the Azerbaijani government
to improve its human rights record.
The partnership is coordinated by the UK-based free-expression
organization Article 19.