International organizations call on EU to raise human rights issues in Azerbaijan during COP29

Human Rights Watch (HRW) and 16 other international human rights organizations have called on the European Union to raise issues of human rights violations in Azerbaijan at the upcoming COP29 climate conference in Baku in November.

The organizations have called on EU leaders to help end the growing number of politically motivated arrests, detentions and restrictions on freedom of expression in Azerbaijan. The joint statement underscores Azerbaijan’s severe escalation of crackdown on government critics. It calls on EU representatives to demand the release of political prisoners and to insist that human rights be a central pillar of EU-Azerbaijan relations.

Moreover, the international attention on Azerbaijan, which is hosting the COP29 conference, allows EU officials to directly press for reforms. They can “speak publicly on all occasions to express support for independent media and civil society, including human rights defenders.”