U.S. State Department: Azerbaijan is primarily a source and transit country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor
Trafficking in Persons Report -Report Home Page
Released by the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons
June 5, 2006
Azerbaijan is primarily a source and transit country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor. Most Azerbaijani victims were trafficked for sexual exploitation to Turkey and the Persian Gulf. Other destinations include Russia, Germany, and Greece. Reports of internal trafficking also continued, as did reports of men trafficked to Turkey and Russia for forced labor.
The Government of Azerbaijan does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. The government undertook important steps to prevent and combat trafficking during the reporting period. In 2005, the government passed anti-trafficking legislation, appointed a new national anti-trafficking coordinator, fully vetted the staff of an anti-trafficking police unit, nearly completed renovations of a trafficking shelter, and created two new trafficking hotlines. The government should take immediate and tangible steps to improve victim rehabilitation by opening, adequately staffing, and fully funding its shelter for trafficking victims. It should also implement a nation-wide victim referral mechanism so that law enforcement personnel improve identification and protection of trafficking victims.
Prosecution
In 2005, the Government of Azerbaijan adopted its Law on the Fight Against Trafficking in Persons and adopted corresponding amendments to the criminal code. The law covers trafficking for both forced labor and sexual exploitation and carries a maximum penalty of 10 to 12 years. Due to the late passage of the criminal code amendments, however, the government continued to use older trafficking-related laws to prosecute traffickers in 2005. During the reporting period, the government opened 160 trafficking investigations and prosecuted 153 cases, resulting in 93 convictions. By the end of the reporting period, 37 traffickers were in prison. The government gave fines to 26 convicted traffickers and gave suspended sentences to 10 convicted traffickers in 2005. During the reporting period, the government completed a thorough vetting process, including conducting exams and background investigations, for its anti-trafficking police unit to ensure the unit meets international standards. The Ministry of Interior worked with customs and border officials to monitor and identify potential trafficking victims at airports, seaports, and land crossings and in January 2006 announced the disruption of a transnational trafficking ring. The Azerbaijani Government cooperated with U.S. counterparts to provide critical information for the prosecution of a U.S. trafficking case involving Azerbaijani victims in 2005. Reports of border guards and law enforcement officials receiving bribes to facilitate trafficking continued. The government established an anti-corruption commission last year to address pervasive corruption.
Protection
The Government of Azerbaijan continued to provide an inadequate level of assistance and support to victims in 2005. During the reporting period, the government failed to develop or implement a formal screening and referral mechanism to identify and assist victims. Although officials informally referred victims to state healthcare facilities, these facilities lack the capacity to provide the required specialized treatment or information for victims of trafficking. Some police referred victims to NGOs; however, a lack of adequate shelters in Azerbaijan forced NGO workers to use their own homes to shelter victims. The government made significant progress constructing and renovating a new trafficking shelter during the reporting period; the shelter is expected to open in spring 2006.
Prevention
The Government of Azerbaijan established two nation-wide trafficking hotlines in 2005. During the reporting period, the government conducted joint seminars with NGOs on trafficking throughout Azerbaijan, demonstrating increased interaction with civil society on trafficking. The State Committee on Women, Children and Families incorporated trafficking prevention into its education and trainings that targeted women from all sectors of society. The anti-trafficking coordinator led the government's inter-agency task force in coordinating communication among agencies.
(source: http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2006/65988.htm)
Analyst: In case of military operation against Iran, Baku will be struck first
“We shall be witness of the US operation in Iran; the only thing that halts the United States now is a complicated condition of the US Armed Forces in Iraq,” political analyst Levon Melik-Shakhnazaryan announced at a news conference yesterday, expressing his bewilderment by the fact that the has not started yet.
As a REGNUM correspondent reports, according to him, the USA is pursuing geopolitical targets and has done too much by now to crawfish. As the political analyst said, in case the military operation is started, Armenia will have to take a neutral position, as on the one hand, Iran is counterweighed by a very strong Western influence, on the other hand, “the USA comes and goes, but neighbors are always here.” Elaborating on the subject of the USA-Iran military confrontation, Levon Melik-Shakhnazaryan noted that Baku will suffer most from the war, as Azerbaijan will be struck first. “If the United State use the Azerbaijani territory for attacking Iran, Tehran will unconditionally discuss the question of seizing Baku,” the political expert said. In this case, the question of rescuing Azerbaijan will become acute. At least, Washington’s military action must be expected before the presidential election, the analyst believes.
(IA REGNUM)
World Press Freedom Commitee's appeal to Ilham Aliyev
May 24, 2007
His Excellency Ilham Aliyev
President
Republic of Azerbaijan
19 Istiglaliyat St.
370066 Baku
Azerbaijan
Your Excellency:
On behalf of the World Press Freedom Committee —an organization representing 45 press freedom groups from six continents— I wish to express my profound concern about the alarmingly high number of incarcerations of journalists in your country, including the recent ones of Rovshen Kebirli, editor of Mukhalifet, an opposition newspaper, and Yashar Agazade, a reporter of this publication.
Mr. Kebirli and Mr. Agazade were sentenced to two and a half years in prison on May 16 as a result of the criminal defamation proceedings against them stemming from the publication of an article very critical of Parliament member Jalal Aliyev, a close relative of yours.
The article, published on Feb. 27, accuses Jalal Aliyev of corruption and mismanagement of agriculture fields. He reacted by pressing criminal defamation charges against the two journalists for “insulting his dignity.”
The local Caucus Media Investigations Center has rightly condemned the sentences calling them “politically motivated,” an attack on freedom of expression, and a violation of the country’s Constitution and of international treaties of which Azerbaijan is a signatory.
Messrs. Kebirli and Agazade have joined seven other journalists in prison, making Azerbaijan one of the least press-freedom friendly countries in the world. The names of theses professionals are Rovshan Kebirli, Yashar Agazade, Eynula Fetullayev, Mirze Sakit (Zahidov), Samir Sedaqetoglu, Rafiq Tagý and Feremez Allahverdiyev.
International judicial entities such as the European Court of Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights have ruled that criminal defamation laws, the ones used to imprison these journalists, are in direct violation of the fundamental right to free speech and to a free press, which are also consecrated in your country’s Constitution.
These institutions also have abundant jurisprudence that supports the concept that public officials should expect more, and not less, scrutiny and criticism from the rest of society. This acceptance of being a willing target of the media’s slings and arrows also implies public officials should restrain from using these laws in order to silence criticism directed at them.
The effective silencing of these journalists sends a disturbing message to all press freedom forces in your country and abroad. These journalism professionals are part of a critical component to Azerbaijan’s democracy. Without a free and independent media, government officials cannot be kept accountable and responsive to the rest of society. Without this essential ingredient, transparency and good governance become impossible to achieve.
The incarcerations of Messrs Kebirli and Agazade and the rest of their colleagues constitute a frontal attack on the very press freedom principles whose respect is essential for the functioning of a democratic society. Therefore, your Excellency, I urge you to use the full extent of the executive power’s influence to begin immediately the appropriate proceedings to free all of them.
Respectfully,
E. Markham Bench
Executive Director
World Press Freedom Committee
His Excellency Ilham Aliyev
President
Republic of Azerbaijan
19 Istiglaliyat St.
370066 Baku
Azerbaijan
Your Excellency:
On behalf of the World Press Freedom Committee —an organization representing 45 press freedom groups from six continents— I wish to express my profound concern about the alarmingly high number of incarcerations of journalists in your country, including the recent ones of Rovshen Kebirli, editor of Mukhalifet, an opposition newspaper, and Yashar Agazade, a reporter of this publication.
Mr. Kebirli and Mr. Agazade were sentenced to two and a half years in prison on May 16 as a result of the criminal defamation proceedings against them stemming from the publication of an article very critical of Parliament member Jalal Aliyev, a close relative of yours.
The article, published on Feb. 27, accuses Jalal Aliyev of corruption and mismanagement of agriculture fields. He reacted by pressing criminal defamation charges against the two journalists for “insulting his dignity.”
The local Caucus Media Investigations Center has rightly condemned the sentences calling them “politically motivated,” an attack on freedom of expression, and a violation of the country’s Constitution and of international treaties of which Azerbaijan is a signatory.
Messrs. Kebirli and Agazade have joined seven other journalists in prison, making Azerbaijan one of the least press-freedom friendly countries in the world. The names of theses professionals are Rovshan Kebirli, Yashar Agazade, Eynula Fetullayev, Mirze Sakit (Zahidov), Samir Sedaqetoglu, Rafiq Tagý and Feremez Allahverdiyev.
International judicial entities such as the European Court of Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights have ruled that criminal defamation laws, the ones used to imprison these journalists, are in direct violation of the fundamental right to free speech and to a free press, which are also consecrated in your country’s Constitution.
These institutions also have abundant jurisprudence that supports the concept that public officials should expect more, and not less, scrutiny and criticism from the rest of society. This acceptance of being a willing target of the media’s slings and arrows also implies public officials should restrain from using these laws in order to silence criticism directed at them.
The effective silencing of these journalists sends a disturbing message to all press freedom forces in your country and abroad. These journalism professionals are part of a critical component to Azerbaijan’s democracy. Without a free and independent media, government officials cannot be kept accountable and responsive to the rest of society. Without this essential ingredient, transparency and good governance become impossible to achieve.
The incarcerations of Messrs Kebirli and Agazade and the rest of their colleagues constitute a frontal attack on the very press freedom principles whose respect is essential for the functioning of a democratic society. Therefore, your Excellency, I urge you to use the full extent of the executive power’s influence to begin immediately the appropriate proceedings to free all of them.
Respectfully,
E. Markham Bench
Executive Director
World Press Freedom Committee