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Al Jazeera: Human rights situation in Azerbaijan is deteriorating at
an alarming rate
17:34 08/03/2013 » SOCIETY
While the international community continues to engage in business as
usual with oil-rich Azerbaijan, the country is quickly losing claim to
any remaining pretence that it is a democracy. Azerbaijani civil
society is under attack at unprecedented levels, as the government
wages a vicious campaign to silence its critics, American-British
human rights activist currently based in London Rebecca Vincent writes
in an article in Al Jazeera.
In particular, the Azerbaijani authorities seem intent on punishing
those who exposed human rights problems in the country during the
period of increased international media attention ahead of the
Eurovision Song Contest and Internet Governance Forum (IGF). Rights
groups warned of potential retaliation once this attention had faded.
They turned out to be right.
`Over the past few months, the Azerbaijani authorities have been
scrambling to silence all critical voices in the country - including
mine,' the author says and notes that in a highly unusual move, in
December, the authorities revoked my residence permit while I was
travelling outside of the country, preventing me from returning to my
home in Baku and effectively separating my family ever since. No
official explanation has been given, but diplomatic negotiations
confirmed that the action was politically motivated.
According to her in the run-up to Eurovision and the IGF, she worked
with a wide range of international and local human rights
organisations that were publically critical of Azerbaijan's record on
issues such as freedom of expression and internet freedom, including
through two reports that were banned from being distributed at the
IGF. But my work with a new local campaign, Art for Democracy, which
had launched just a week earlier in a December 11 event, seems to have
been the clincher. Art for Democracy seeks to use all forms of
artistic expression to promote human rights and democracy in the
country.
`Since December, the human rights situation in the country has
deteriorated at an alarming rate. In January, authorities responded to
an unrelated series of anti-government protests in Baku and other
regions.' the author writes.
At the same time, authorities appeared to support protests against the
author Akram Aylisli following his publication of Stone Dreams, a
novel covering the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict from a perspective his
critics allege is sympathetic to Armenia. Pro-government groups held
pickets in February calling Aylisli a traitor and burning his book.
`Authorities have also started taking steps to eliminate any chance of
a free and fair presidential election in October,' the article said.
Republicanist Alternative (REAL) movement presidential candidate Ilgar
Mammadov is in pre-trial detention, facing up to 10 years imprisonment
on politically motivated charges of organising mass disorder and
violently resisting police.
`Despite this rapid deterioration, the international community has
hardly taken note. The support promised to Azerbaijani activists by
IGF participants has certainly been lacking,' Vincent writes. She
recalls that European politicians directly contributed to the downward
spiral by failing to support a resolution on political prisoners in
Azerbaijan in a January 23 vote at the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe - a move that the Azerbaijani authorities clearly
interpreted as carte blanche to continue arresting persons for
politically motivated reasons.
`To top it all, as recently as February 20, the European Union
enhanced a Memorandum of Understanding on Energy with Azerbaijan,
signaling once again that in realpolitik, oil trumps human rights,'
the human rights activist writes.
Source: Panorama.am
an alarming rate
17:34 08/03/2013 » SOCIETY
While the international community continues to engage in business as
usual with oil-rich Azerbaijan, the country is quickly losing claim to
any remaining pretence that it is a democracy. Azerbaijani civil
society is under attack at unprecedented levels, as the government
wages a vicious campaign to silence its critics, American-British
human rights activist currently based in London Rebecca Vincent writes
in an article in Al Jazeera.
In particular, the Azerbaijani authorities seem intent on punishing
those who exposed human rights problems in the country during the
period of increased international media attention ahead of the
Eurovision Song Contest and Internet Governance Forum (IGF). Rights
groups warned of potential retaliation once this attention had faded.
They turned out to be right.
`Over the past few months, the Azerbaijani authorities have been
scrambling to silence all critical voices in the country - including
mine,' the author says and notes that in a highly unusual move, in
December, the authorities revoked my residence permit while I was
travelling outside of the country, preventing me from returning to my
home in Baku and effectively separating my family ever since. No
official explanation has been given, but diplomatic negotiations
confirmed that the action was politically motivated.
According to her in the run-up to Eurovision and the IGF, she worked
with a wide range of international and local human rights
organisations that were publically critical of Azerbaijan's record on
issues such as freedom of expression and internet freedom, including
through two reports that were banned from being distributed at the
IGF. But my work with a new local campaign, Art for Democracy, which
had launched just a week earlier in a December 11 event, seems to have
been the clincher. Art for Democracy seeks to use all forms of
artistic expression to promote human rights and democracy in the
country.
`Since December, the human rights situation in the country has
deteriorated at an alarming rate. In January, authorities responded to
an unrelated series of anti-government protests in Baku and other
regions.' the author writes.
At the same time, authorities appeared to support protests against the
author Akram Aylisli following his publication of Stone Dreams, a
novel covering the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict from a perspective his
critics allege is sympathetic to Armenia. Pro-government groups held
pickets in February calling Aylisli a traitor and burning his book.
`Authorities have also started taking steps to eliminate any chance of
a free and fair presidential election in October,' the article said.
Republicanist Alternative (REAL) movement presidential candidate Ilgar
Mammadov is in pre-trial detention, facing up to 10 years imprisonment
on politically motivated charges of organising mass disorder and
violently resisting police.
`Despite this rapid deterioration, the international community has
hardly taken note. The support promised to Azerbaijani activists by
IGF participants has certainly been lacking,' Vincent writes. She
recalls that European politicians directly contributed to the downward
spiral by failing to support a resolution on political prisoners in
Azerbaijan in a January 23 vote at the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe - a move that the Azerbaijani authorities clearly
interpreted as carte blanche to continue arresting persons for
politically motivated reasons.
`To top it all, as recently as February 20, the European Union
enhanced a Memorandum of Understanding on Energy with Azerbaijan,
signaling once again that in realpolitik, oil trumps human rights,'
the human rights activist writes.
Source: Panorama.am