Azerbaijan: UN delegation calls on Baku to protect rights of detained people
| Publisher | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| Publication Date | 24 April 2015 |
| Cite as | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Azerbaijan: UN delegation calls on Baku to protect rights of detained people, 24 April 2015, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5565ba3e15.html [accessed 26 May 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
April 24, 2015
By RFE/RL
A delegation from the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture has called on the Azerbaijani authorities "to do more to protect the rights of people deprived of their liberty," following a visit to Azerbaijan from April 16 to 24.
According to a United Nations statement, experts visited police stations, pretrial and temporary detention centers, investigative isolation units of the Ministry of National Security, prisons, psychiatric hospitals, and social-care institutions throughout the country – including in the Azerbaijani exclave of Naxcivan.
The four-member delegation also met with law-enforcement officials, medical staff, authorities, civil-society representatives, and "persons deprived of their liberty."
The UN body is expected to submit a confidential report to Azerbaijan's government.
In September, UN experts left the country after authorities prevented the team from visiting certain sites.
Activists, journalists, and government critics have been jailed in the past year as part of the government's crackdown on civil society.
Earlier in April, the U.S.-based nongovernmental group Human RIghts Watch (HRW) called on the international community to press Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to "release the critics it has thrown behind bars and end its crackdown."
Link to original story on RFE/RL website
