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.
To support a research project and workshops on legal and human rights education. All of these scientists and technicians have paved the way for many other women and girls to engage in science. One reason for this is that some famous women from Azerbaijan have made great contributions to science and have been inspiring role models for future generations. Leyla Mammadbeyova, was Azerbaijan’s first woman forensic medical expert and became the country’s first woman Chief Pathologist. With over 200 scientific publications to her name, she also won several medals for her contributions to science. Dilshad Talibkhan Elbrus was Azerbaijan’s first woman https://asian-date.net/western-asia/azerbaijan-women nuclear physicist and Mahmuba Mahmudbayova was Azerbaijan’s first woman medical Doctor of Science and made a number of important medical discoveries that have improved the treatment of pregnant women with cardiovascular diseases. According to CFTJ, Azerbaijan is violating international law by prosecuting Armenian POWs in sham trials as during this past summer, when Azerbaijan tried and convicted dozens of Armenian POWs.
- In Azerbaijan, the latest 2019 official statistics show that girls performed better than boys in university entrance exams in 2010–2018.
- According to official data, at least 71 schools were damaged or destroyed on the Armenian side and 54 on the Azerbaijani side.
- Human Rights Watch also documented torture and other abuse by Azerbaijani forces against Armenian civilians, including against older people, as well as a case of extrajudicial execution in early 2021.
- After the interviews conclude, the evidence collected is categorized into potential legal causes of action.
- “This is part of a deliberate strategy to muzzle critics of the government and suppress women’s activism.
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.
Women in Azerbaijan
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.
Amnesty International said that anonymous Telegram channels are publishing information likely to have been obtained covertly by security forces tasked with hacking the accounts of women activists. In April, Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner, Dunja Mijatovic, expressed concern at “dehumanising scenes, including wax mannequins depicting dead and dying Armenians soldiers” that are included in displays at the Trophy Park, dedicated to Azerbaijan’s victory in the Nagorno-Karbakh war. Mijatovic said “I consider such images highly disturbing and humiliating.” In October, Azerbaijan removed the displays of wax mannequins and the helmets of soldiers seized during the war. Serious gaps continued in the official response including lack of protection and recourse for survivors. Azerbaijani courts have also sentenced at least six ethnic Armenians, some of whom are reportedly civilians, on a variety of other charges. The charges include terrorism, espionage, and, in two cases, torturing Azerbaijani citizens during the Karabakh war of the 1990s.
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.