The Economic Research Center (ERC) is a policy-research oriented nonprofit think tank founded in 1999 [1] that strives to facilitate sustainable economic development and good governance in the New Public Management system of Azerbaijan.
The Azerbaijani authorities have made it illegal for NGOs to receive foreign funding in 2014 and in addition to that the bank accounts of the Economic research center were frozen. The Economic Research Center could not function in the same way afterwards and ceased its research for several years. [2] [3] In 2015 during a police raid the computers and documents were seized. [4] This raid was a part of ta larger crackdown on NGOs in Azerbaijan. [5] The acts of the authorities were challenged in courts and it became a matter of a case at the ECtHR in which the court ruled that the bank accounts are to be reopened. [6] The director of the ERC at the time, Gubad Ibadoghlu, later left the country to continue his work in exile. [7]
In July 2023 the office of the Economic Research Center was raided by the police again, this time in connection to Gubad Ibadoghlu's arrest; documents and computers were seized during the search and the office itself was sealed. [8] [9]
Before the crackdown and freezing of the accounts, the ERC focused on monitoring and scrutinizing the government spending, the budget and policies.
Since 2018 the ERC restarted publishing its reports and monitoring data, such as its report on the Azerbaijani government's mine removal efforts in Karabakh that shows that prime agricultural land in the region was seized by Aliyev's family and his closest allies. [10] [11] The other report from 2019 has presented the data that shows the cotton industry in Azerbaijan using child labor, forcing students into working and committing other labor and human rights violations. [12]
Defence for Children International (DCI) is an international non-governmental organisation (INGO) set up in 1979, during the International Year of the Child, to ensure on-going, practical, systematic and concerted international and national action specially directed towards promoting and protecting the rights of children, as articulated in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Nigel Cantwell was one of its founders and its current president is Khaled Quzmar of Palestine.
International organizations have frequently alleged that Azerbaijan has violated human rights standards established in international law.
LGBT people in Azerbaijan face significant challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Same-sex sexual activity has been legal in Azerbaijan since 1 September 2000. Nonetheless, discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity are not banned in the country and same-sex marriage is not recognized.
Eynulla Emin oglu Fatullayev is an Azerbaijani journalist and editor-in-chief of the independent Russian-language weekly Realny Azerbaijan and Azerbaijani-language daily Gündəlik Azərbaycan newspapers. He was imprisoned for four years in Azerbaijan for his criticism of government's policies and for his comments on the Khojaly massacre. His sentence was condemned by Reporters Without Borders, International PEN, and the Committee to Protect Journalists, and Amnesty International named him a prisoner of conscience and 2011 "priority case."
The Republic of Azerbaijan and the European Union (EU) have maintained a positive relationship through the years and have become more closely linked since 1991. Azerbaijan is currently part of the European Neighborhood Policy, the Eastern Partnership and the Council of Europe. The EU is the largest foreign grant donor to and investor in Azerbaijan, both in the government sector and civil society, making available over 600 million EURO of bilateral EU assistance since 1992.
Women in Azerbaijan nominally enjoy the same legal rights as men; however, societal discrimination remains a problem. Baku Research Institute reports that: "Violations of privacy in political and social relations, such as interfering in private life, the sharing of private information, and unauthorized access to private space, are widespread in Azerbaijan".
The government of Belarus is criticized for its human rights violations and persecution of non-governmental organisations, independent journalists, national minorities, and opposition politicians. In a testimony to the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, former United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice labeled Belarus as one of the world's six "outposts of tyranny". In response, the Belarusian government called the assessment "quite far from reality". During 2020 Belarusian presidential election and protests, the number of political prisoners recognized by Viasna Human Rights Centre rose dramatically to 1062 as of 16 February 2022. Several people died after the use of unlawful and abusive force by law enforcement officials during 2020 protests. According to Amnesty International, the authorities didn't investigate violations during protests but instead harassed those who challenged their version of events. In July 2021, the authorities launched a campaign against the remaining non-governmental organizations, liquidating at least 270 of them by October, including all previously registered human rights organizations in the country.
Vugar Bayramov is an economist and the member of the National Assembly of Azerbaijan since 2020.
The Viasna Human Rights Centre is a human rights organization based in Minsk, Belarus. The organization aims to provide financial and legal assistance to political prisoners and their families, and was founded in 1996 by activist Ales Bialatski in response to large-scale repression of demonstrations by the government of Alexander Lukashenko.
Lê Quốc Quân is a Vietnamese human rights lawyer, democracy activist and Catholic blogger. He was arrested by the Vietnamese government on charges of tax evasion on 27 December 2012, convicted on 2 October 2013, and sentenced to 30 months in prison. The arrest was condemned by international human rights organizations and the US government.
The Russian foreign agent law requires anyone who receives "support" from outside Russia or is under "influence" from outside Russia to register and declare themselves as "foreign agents". Once registered, they are subject to additional audits and are obliged to mark all their publications with a 24-word disclaimer saying that they are being distributed by a "foreign agent". The phrase "foreign agent" in Russian has strong associations with Cold War-era espionage. The law has been heavily criticized both in Russia and internationally as violating human rights, and as a tool used to suppress civil society and press freedom within Russia, particularly groups opposed to Vladimir Putin.
Rashadat Akhundov is a youth activist and co-founder of N!DA Civic Movement. He was arrested on March 30, 2013 a few days after the protests held in Baku against the non-combat deaths in the military. Akhundov was accused in preparing the riots during the protests. International human rights organization, Amnesty International recognized him as a prisoner of conscience. He was sentenced to 8 years of imprisonment on May 6, 2014, but later pardoned and released on March 17, 2016 being imprisoned for three years.
Most Azerbaijanis receive their information from mainstream television, which is unswervingly pro-government and under strict government control. According to a 2012 report of the NGO "Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS)" Azerbaijani citizens are unable to access objective and reliable news on human rights issues relevant to Azerbaijan and the population is under-informed about matters of public interest.
Arif Mammadov is an Azerbaijani former diplomat and opposition activist.
Emin Rafiq oglu Huseynov is an Azerbaijani journalist and human rights activist. He was the chairman of the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety. After he was forced into hiding to avoid arrest in Azerbaijan, Huseynov fled Azerbaijan and is in the process of attaining political asylum status in Switzerland.
Chiragov v. Armenia was an international human rights case regarding the rights to property of Azeri nationals in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of former Soviet Azerbaijan. The judgment of the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights on the case originated in an application against the Republic of Armenia lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms by six Azerbaijani nationals on 6 April 2005. The applicants alleged, in particular, that they were prevented from returning to the district of Lachin in territory occupied by the respondent Government, that they were thus unable to enjoy their property and homes located there, and that they had not received any compensation for their losses.
Tofig Rashid oghlu Yagublu, is an Azerbaijani politician, journalist, former deputy chairman of the Musavat Party (2010–2018), and a member of the coordinating center of the National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF).
Gozal Bayramli, also translated as Gozel Bayramli, was a politician of Azerbaijan, member and deputy chairman of the Azerbaijani Popular Front Party (APFP) and a former political prisoner.
The persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia refers to Russian government persecution of the Jehovah's Witnesses religious sect. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Jehovah's Witnesses became legal after a long period of being banned, though have still faced widespread government interference into their activities. Jehovah's witnesses were deported en masse to Siberia in 1951 under Stalin via Operation North.
Gubad Ibadoghlu, also spelled Gubad Ibadoglu, is an Azerbaijani political activist, a scholar, and human rights defender, who from 2021 has been a research fellow at the London School of Economics. He was supposed to start a new teaching position at TU Dresden in 2023 however on 23 July 2023 he was arrested in Azerbaijan and remains in custody. The international community has condemned his arrest as arbitrary and politically motivated.