Member organisations of the International Partnership Group for Azerbaijan (IPGA) are deeply concerned by the continued politically motivated imprisonment of persons in Azerbaijan for exercising their right to freedom of expression. The IPGA calls on the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to take immediate action to ensure the release of these persons and to hold Azerbaijan accountable for its obligations as a Member State. Although Azerbaijan is bound by the European Convention on Human Rights and international law to respect and protect the right to freedom of expression,...


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We, the members of the National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum of Azerbaijan condemn the verdict by the Lankaran District Court against Yadigar Sadigov, the adviser to the head of Musavat Party. Sadigov has been sentenced to six years in prison and the verdict is the result of the lack of an independent judiciary in Azerbaijan. The presidential elections year of 2013 has made the human rights picture in the country darker. The number of the political prisoners has again exceeded one hundred persons. Hooliganism, drag and weapon possession has made the list of trumped-up...


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In response to the number of restrictive amendments to the NGO law adopted by the Azerbaijani Parliament- Milli Majlis in the end of December and as a follow up of the last conference by the CNIS and CLI the group of leading NGOs ( among them Public Intitiave Center, Center for National and International Studies, Azerbaijan Chapter of Helsinki Civil Assembly and many others) decided to restore created in 2009 the Civil Society Defence Committee ( CSDC) . It was agreed to conduct a series of activities directed to the prevention of signing of the amendments into the law by the president of the republic....


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A meeting was held on 26 December, 2013 by joint arrangement of Centre for National and International Studies and Centre for Law Initiatives about the current situation and future of civil society in Azerbaijan and the last legislative changes in the context of Universal Periodic Review. In opening speech the head of Centre for National and International Studies Dr. Leila Alieva emphasized about the functioning of the civil society in Azerbaijan under pressure during 22 years of independence. She underlined the importance of such meetings that the monitoring of the implementation of the recommendations...


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EU-Azerbaijan: Driven by strategic importance, lacking value-based impact Heinrich Boell Stiftung, Nov. 2013 by Leila Alieva The EU-Azerbaijan ENP agreement signed in 2006 was met with substantial enthusiasm from society and was followed by official statements on the commitment to integration in the EU. At that point, the three states of the South Caucasus were equally eager to become one step closer to the European club. The civil society of Azerbaijan proved its devotion to the ideas of European integration by initiating a national campaign in 2006 to include "European aspirations" in the text...


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