Human rights situation and peace process: ‘Azerbaijan faces important choices,’ Borrell says ahead of COP29
The COP29 United Nations climate change conference that will start in Baku in less than three weeks is an opportunity for the Azerbaijani authorities to demonstrate the commitment to their international human rights obligations, EU High Representative Josep Borrell said in a speech, delivered yesterday at the European Parliament by European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit.
“It is an opportunity to reverse the worrying trend of the past years of an increasingly shrinking space for civil society, intensifying repression of independent media and dissenting voices, and the growing number of arbitrary arrests,” said Borrell.
He cited the cases of Gubad Ibadoghlu, Ilhamiz Guliyev, Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, Alasgar Mammadli, Anar Mammadli, and Bahruz Samadov, a young scholar and peace activist studying in Prague, who was arrested this Summer while visiting family in Azerbaijan.
“Our position is clear: the government of Azerbaijan should release all those who have been detained for exercising their fundamental rights, including journalists, human rights defenders and political activists,” Borrell said, in particular urging the Azerbaijani government to lift 2024 Sakharov prize finalist Dr Ibadoghlu’s travel ban without delay to allow him to access the medical treatment he needs abroad.
Borrell also mentioned that during his two recent visits to Baku, European Commissioner for Climate Action Wopke Hoekstra raised the human rights situation with the authorities and met with civil society representatives.
EU High Representative Josep Borrell added that COP29 was a historic opportunity for peace. “Azerbaijan and Armenia have never been so close to overcoming decades of conflict,” he said in his speech. “The Conference will be a historic chance for Azerbaijan and Armenia to demonstrate to the world their commitment to peace, and to muster the political will to sign a peace agreement.”
He added that the European Union will keep the channels of communication open and continue to lend its full support to the normalisation process and will stand ready to mobilise the necessary resources to allow all sides to reap the benefits of a lasting and sustainable peace.
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