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Azerbaijan is hosting the UN climate summit COP29, but the human rights situation in the country is causing controversy. Calls for a response from the international community are growing louder.
Baku – From 11 November to 22 November, Azerbaijan will host the U.N.Climate Summit COP29. Up to 200 governments are expected to work out a new global approach to how, among other things, the resources to tackle the climate crisis are to be made available. In the run-up to the important conference, however, there have already been numerous arrests, such as the Guardian reported, citing Human Rights Watch.
Germany is also concerned about the situation. After all, Azerbaijan conquered Nagorno-Karabakh last year. Since then, the region has been ethnically cleansed. Around 120,000 people have had to flee to Armenia. Possible crimes committed during the conquest have not yet been investigated. Human rights organizations are therefore calling on the German delegation at COP29 to publicly condemn the events.
Lawsuit against Aliyev for genocide filed with ICC
“The Central Council of Armenians in Germany (ZAD), the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP), the International Society for Human Rights (IGFM) and the Working Group Recognition – Against Genocide, for International Understanding urgently appeal to the German Federal Government and all delegates at COP29 to campaign emphatically for the immediate release of all Armenian prisoners in Baku in the run-up to the climate conference.” A charge of genocide was filed against the authoritarian ruler of the Caucasus republic with the International Criminal Court (ICC) on April 18, 2024.
Aliyev calls Armenia “West Azerbaijan”
Now the state of Armenia is also in the sights of the Azerbaijani government. Ruler Aliyev threatened to “return” to “West Azerbaijan” – this is the name given to the current territory of Armenia. “The danger for Armenia is of an existential nature. The genocide of the Armenians in 1915 by the Aliyev-Erdogan alliance is still being denied today,” warns Valerio Krüger, board spokesman of the IGFM, in an interview with FR.de from IPPEN.MEDIA.
“Azerbaijani schoolchildren are being indoctrinated from scratch about the ‘barbaric Armenian enemies’. With the blockade of the Lachin Corridor beginning in December 2022, the Aliyev regime aimed to starve and expel the Armenians living there; numerous Armenians were arrested and imprisoned by Azerbaijani authorities in the course of the final military attack.”
Central Council of Armenians calls on Germany to stand up for Armenian prisoners
Jonathan Spangenberg, chairman of the Central Council of Armenians, sees things similarly and calls for energetic action. “It is tragic enough that such an important climate conference is taking place in a country like Azerbaijan. However, Germany has the opportunity to campaign emphatically for the release of all Armenian prisoners in Baku in the run-up to COP29. This is also due to the historical responsibility regarding the Armenian genocide,” Spangenberg said in an interview with FR. Among the prisoners are at least 23 members of the Nagorno-Karabakh government. Around 200 other Armenians are considered “missing.”
“Germany will address the human rights situation in Azerbaijan”
The situation in Azerbaijan is now also a concern for German MPs. “The development is dramatic. The number of political prisoners has quadrupled to over 300 in the last year. Hundreds more are out of the country and are still being harassed by Aliyev’s henchmen. This is also why Azerbaijan’s delegation in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has been suspended,” said Frank Schwabe (SPD), member of the Bundestag and Federal Government Commissioner for Freedom of Religion and Belief, when asked.
“In the spirit of a human rights-oriented foreign policy, Germany will of course critically examine the human rights situation in Azerbaijan and hold appropriate events before and during the climate conference. I have no doubt about that,” said Schwabe.
Green MP calls for “tacheles” talks with Azerbaijan
Bundestag member Max Lucks (The Greens) is even calling for the German government to take a tougher stance towards Azerbaijan. “We need to talk frankly with Azerbaijan and not remain silent in favour of new energy partnerships. I say this because the imprisonment of Armenians in Azerbaijan is only possible because we have often been too soft in the past. This is a free pass for a regime that sees freedom as a threat and repression as the solution to its own problems,” Lucks told our editorial team. Massive human rights violations by and in Azerbaijan have not only been seen in the recent past.
“Arrests of journalists in Azerbaijan have not only been part of everyday politics for several decades, but are literally part of the DNA of the Azerbaijani regime. I also see the imprisonment of these journalists as a message to us: the imprisoned journalists were also interlocutors of the Council of Europe in the past. They are therefore well known in human rights work,” said Lucks.
International rankings confirm criticism of Azerbaijan
The Criticism of Azerbaijan is justifiedThis is also confirmed by assessments by international organizations. Azerbaijan is ranked 164th out of 180 countries in the Reporters Without Borders press freedom index. In the “Ranking of Countries Based on the Quality of Democracy” by the University of Würzburg, the country comes 154th out of 179 countries. The situation also looks bad in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index. Azerbaijan is ranked 154th out of 180 countries. Aliyev will, however, want to use COP29 to polish his tarnished image on the international stage. He will not be able to use critical voices from journalists to do this, however. (erpe)
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