Women human rights defenders, including activists, journalists and lawyers are speaking out to hold to account those responsible for a range of human rights violations and to champion women’s human rights, including their rights to freedom of expression and association. However, their efforts have met with ever more intense and egregious reprisals.
This study of women and gender in a Muslim society draws on archival and literary sources as well as the life stories of women of different generations to offer a unique ethnographic and historical account of the lives of urban women in contemporary Azerbaijan. Focussing on a group of professional women in Baku, it provides insight into the impact of the Soviet system on the position of Azeri women, their conceptions of femininity and the significant changes brought about by the post-Soviet transition to a market economy and growing western https://asian-date.net/western-asia/azerbaijan-women influence. Also explored are the ways in which local cultural expectations and Islamic beliefs were accommodated to different modernisation projects.
- The EU repeatedly called for Azerbaijan to release all “prisoners and detainees” captured in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
- The World Organization Against Torture , stated that at least 78 were detained, and 25 sentenced to between 12 and 20 years in prison, in closed trials, “with multiple cases of torture.” At least five of the detainees died within days of their arrest in May 2020.
- The charges include terrorism, espionage, and, in two cases, torturing Azerbaijani citizens during the Karabakh war of the 1990s.
- And while more women are now graduating with science doctorates, they frequently come up against glass ceilings and too often find jobs only in the public sector.
- The police had also interfered with the International Women’s Day gathering in previous years.
In April, a court sentenced Said Mamedzade Bakuvi, an APFP activist, to three-and-a-half years in prison on bogus hooliganism charges, but in June substituted the penalty with a suspended sentence and released him. Although Azerbaijani authorities consistently claimed that all remaining Armenian soldiers in custody were terrorism suspects, they dropped terrorism charges during the trials against several dozen and convicted them for illegal border crossing and weapons possession.
The project draws on the expertise of women active in all sectors in an effort to move beyond window dressing, while promoting greater transparency and accountability. Implemented by the Azerbaijani Women’s Association for Rational Development, the project will address issues of high relevance to Azerbaijani women, ranging from child and maternal mortality to girls’ education, support for women entrepreneurs, early marriage, improved housing and the minority rights. The parliament became operational in July following final thematic training sessions throughout June, attended by UNDEF Deputy Executive Head Annika Savill. Members are women leaders from civil society organizations throughout Azerbaijan, as well as prominent individuals in both business and academia. In May, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling on Azerbaijan to unconditionally release Armenian POWs and ensure their access to lawyers, doctors and human rights defenders. It also urged Azerbaijan to cooperate with the European Court of Human Rights in investigating reports about inhuman treatment of POWs.
Azerbaijan: Female labor force participation
Learn more about each topic, see who’s involved, and find the latest news, reports, events and more. Authorities typically dismissed complaints of torture and other ill-treatment in custody, and the practice continued with impunity. Ill-treatment is rampant in police custody, allegedly to coerce confessions, while denying detainees access to family, independent lawyers, or independent medical care. In January, Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan member Niyameddin Ahmedov faced new, dubious charges of incitement and trafficking in banned items. Ahmedov has been in custody since his May 2020 arrest on financing terrorism charges, which stem from allegations that he received funds from an exiled government critic to destabilize the country and assassinate political figures. Police allegedly beat Ahmedov in custody in an attempt to coerce him to falsely testify against an APFP leader. In the period since the war’s start, tensions between the government and political opposition declined.
Azerbaijan: Opposition Leader Sentenced to Years in Prison On Politically Motivated Charges
The World Organization Against Torture , stated that at least 78 were detained, and 25 sentenced to between 12 and 20 years in prison, in closed trials, “with multiple cases of torture.” At least five of the detainees died within days of their arrest in May 2020. In May, the Azerbaijani Bar Association, which is seen as closely tied to the government, reinstated lawyers Shahla Humbatova and Irada Javadova, who had been disbarred in previous years in apparent retaliation for their work on politically sensitive cases. Also in March, police arrested Lachin Valiyev, an opposition activist, on bogus drugs-related charges and allegedly coerced him to give incriminating statements against the APFP leadership.
We’re Social…for Statheads
In some ongoing trials, they deprive Armenian captives of the most basic legal protections while the sentences are arbitrary and excessive, unsupported by any factual evidence but are more of a show. The French Journalist, J-Christophe Buisson tweeted about the masked armed Azeri soldiers who stopped the Artsakh Armenian youth soccer team bus on its way to Armenia for a soccer match. Using a dagger to scrape off the Artsakh flag from the surface of the bus, the soldiers inspected the war-traumatized children’s phones, stating Nagorno-Karabakh is part of Azerbaijan. Known in Russian as Настоящее Время, Current Time is a 24/7 television and digital network for Russian speakers, led by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in cooperation with Voice of America. Current Time English regularly showcases a selection of stand-out Current Time content with appeal for international audiences.
Yet a marriage just to get what she wants seems insincere to Ayan.“I don’t want to get married just in order to get rid of my parents’ control, to escape from my parents’ home,” she said. “Even though I used to consider this option after every family argument, I then realized that that was wrong.” Such a marriage, she believes, would most likely end soon in divorce – a too difficult and unpleasant proceeding, she said. To bring change, one of these returned women “must finally go all the way” to the ECHR with a complaint about a civil-rights violation, she said. The young woman alleges that her relatives took away her passport once she returned home. They did not beat her, she said, but her situation “even got worse” as her family urged her “not to disgrace” them, she alleged.