Azerbaijan Human Right

A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups in general investigate and publish their findings on human rights abuses without restrictions. Some NGO's wholly independent of the Government are objective and effective conduits of information to local officials, the diplomatic community and such international institutions as the Council of Europe. The Government maintains ties to some of the human rights NGO'S and responds to inquires. However, the Government occasionally criticizes some human rights NGO'S and activists and the Ministry of Justice routinely failed to act on or denied registration to NGO'S, including human rights NGO'S, although it has not tried to restrict their activities (see Section 2.b.). In May the Human Rights Resource Center in Khachmaz experienced increased hostility from local regional authorities and its director was called into local police headquarters for repeated questioning about the center's activities. The Government accused some human ... [Read More]

Azerbaijan

There was slight improvement in the status of respect for religious freedom during the period covered by this report. While some religious groups reported delays in and denials of registration, several churches have indicated that they either received or expect to receive their registration, they are able to import religious literature, and they meet without government interference. However, local authorities occasionally monitor religious services, and officials at times harassed nontraditional religious groups. The generally amicable relationship among religions in society contributed to religious freedom; however, there is popular prejudice against Muslims who convert to non-Muslim faiths and hostility towards groups that proselytize, particularly Evangelical Christian and missionary groups. The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the Government i ... [Read More]

2004 Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Azerbaijan

Many domestic and international human rights groups generally operated without government restriction, investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases. Although the Government maintained ties with some human rights NGOs and responded to their inquiries, on occasion, the Government criticized and intimidated some human rights NGOs and activists, and the MOJ routinely denied or failed to register some human rights NGOs (see Section 2.b.). ... [Read More]

Azerbaijan

Several human rights organizations monitor the human rights situation in the country. For the most part, the Government posed no obstacles to the presence of international human rights groups. Some of these groups investigate human rights abuses and disseminate their findings through the media. However, the Government has been critical of certain domestic human rights activists who have raised politically sensitive issues. ... [Read More]

Democracy - US Department of State
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Azerbaijan

A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups generally operated without government restriction, investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases. Some NGOs wholly independent of the Government were objective and effective conduits of information to local officials, the diplomatic community, and such international institutions as the Council of Europe. The Government maintained ties to some of the human rights NGOs and responded to inquiries. However, the Government occasionally criticized some human rights NGOs and activists, and the Ministry of Justice routinely denied or failed to register many groups, including human rights NGOs, although it did not try to restrict their activities (see Section 2.b.). ... [Read More]

Azerbaijan Elections
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Azerbaijan

According to the IOM, the Government continued to deport illegal Iranian immigrants during the year. Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to Change Their GovernmentThe Constitution and the law allow citizens to change their government by peaceful means; however, the Government continued to restrict citizens' ability to do so by interfering in local and national elections. The country is a republic with a strong presidency, and the Constitution provides for an independent legislature. However, in practice, Parliament's independence was minimal, and it exercised little legislative initiative independent of the executive. The October 15 presidential election failed to meet international standards due to a number of serious irregularities. These included the lack of a level playing field in the pre-election campaign--including a flawed candidate registratio ... [Read More]