Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders Michel Forst informed about the aim of his visit to Azerbaijan while meeting with the Chairman of the IEPF, Umud Mirzayev and with the Chairman of Human Rights and Democratic Development in Azerbaijan Murad Sadaddinov on September 20,2016.
Michel Forst is an independent expert authorized by the UN Human swisstimepiecesRights Council in order to review the protection and defense of human rights defenders in the world.
The chairman of Human Rights and Democratic Development in Azerbaijan, Murad Sadəddinov informed the Special Rapporteur on the last reforms carried out in the field of human rights, freedoms and penitentiary service in Azerbaijan. Mr.Sadaddinov explained his satisfaction with the progress achieved and expressed his concern about some difficulties. He added that problems should not be solved under pressure of some international organizations. The dialogue between the government and local human rights activists has more results rather than external pressure on the government. He used the example of Azerbaijans latest prisoner amnesty that had been achieved as a result of a dialogue between the local human rights defenders and the government.
The chairman of the IEPF Umud Mirzayev stated that the visit of Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders Michel Forst to Azerbaijan is very important for civil society development in Azerbaijan. Moreover, Moreover, Umud Mirzayev brought the guests attention to the fact that during the 1st Karabakh war the rights of thousands of Azerbaijanis were violated. Azerbaijani people are still suffering from the Armenian aggression.
“Our lands have been occupied and nobody is talking about the rights of refugees and internally displaced people. Big number of Azerbaijanis graves has been destroyed in the occupied Azerbaijani territories of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions. Such a behavior violates the rights of dead and alive people. Thousands of our citizens are living now as captives in detention. In spite of the serious efforts of Azerbaijan to bring this issue to the attention, neither human rights defenders in the world nor international organizations care much about this problem”, Mr.Mirzayev said.
The chairman of the IEPF concluded that all of these facts should be mentioned in the final report of Mr. Michel Forst to the UN Human Rights Council in March 2017 because otherwise no one will take it seriously.
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders Michel Forst paid a visit to the International Eurasia Press Fund (IEPF)
