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Azerbaijan

Monthly Event Reports

August 2023 | Former ICC prosecutor warns of genocide in Nagorno-Karabakh

Former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Luis Moreno Ocampo published a report arguing the ongoing Azerbaijani blockade of the disputed majority Armenian territory of Nagorno-Karabakh should be considered genocide on 7 August. On 15 August, the Nagorno Karabakh Human Rights Defender’s Office said a man had starved to death, marking the first death as a result of the months-long blockade which has prevented food, medicine, fuel, and electricity from reaching the region. A UN Security council meeting on the crisis on 16 August failed to result in a statement, as Azerbaijan’s close ally and non-permanent member Turkiye disputed Armenia’s claims and defended Azerbaijan’s justification to blockade the region.

July 2023 | Rural environmental protest garners international attention

A peaceful protest by villagers from Soyudlu in north-central Azerbaijan against the expansion of a local mining project, which villagers complained for years had severely damaged local water supplies, was met with overwhelming force by armed riot police on 20 June. Videos spread across the internet and prompted intense media coverage and interest from domestic and international rights advocates. Journalists and lawyers who travelled to Soyudlu were detained, interrogated, and allegedly assaulted by police. In a rare move, President Ilham Aliyev expressed his sympathy with the villagers at a 11 July cabinet meeting and called the local environmental situation “utterly unacceptable”, blaming the local mining company and the environmental ministry. However, Aliyev also praised the police’s conduct, and the town remains largely cut off from the outside world by a police cordon and local residents report a heavy police presence inside the town.

June 2023 | Azerbaijan imposes total blockade on Nagorno-Karabakh

The Azerbaijani blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh in place since 12 December 2022 was expanded to include humanitarian convoys provided by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Russian peacekeepers on 15 June, completely cutting the region off from the outside world. The expanded blockade exacerbated existing food and medicine shortages and prevented the ICRC from evacuating patients in need of urgent care; the blockade was lifted on 25 June for the ICRC, two days after Russian peacekeepers airlifted a critically ill one-year-old child to Armenia. The blockade has been criticized as illegal by the European Parliament. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused Azerbaijan of holding Karabakh’s population hostage, and Armenian Prime Minster Nikol Pashinyan called the blockade “a policy of ethnic cleansing.”

May 2023 | Empty seats prompt representation concerns

Despite promises from the Central Election Commission and a campaign by an opposition party to hold legally mandated special elections, seven seats in Azerbaijan’s 125-member parliament have been vacant for between one and three years. The lack of elections has been criticized by the lone opposition party with representation in parliament, with analysts citing the even further decline of parliament as an actual decision-making or representative body. Local analysts credited both government disinterest in the resurgence of political activity that accompanies elections, as well as public apathy towards the country’s electoral processes, which have become progressively less free and credible over the last twenty years.

Explore past monthly event reports

GSoD Indices Data 2013-2022

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Basic Information

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Population Tooltip
10 145 210
System of government
Presidential system
Head of government
Prime Minister Ali Asadov (since 2019)
Head of government party
New Azerbaijan Party
Electoral system for lower or single chamber
First Past the Post
Women in lower or single chamber
18.3%
Women in upper chamber
Not applicable
Last legislative election
2020
Head of state
President Ilham Aliyev
Selection process for head of state
Direct election (two-round majority)
Latest Universal Periodic Review (UPR) date
15/05/2018
Latest Universal Periodic Review (UPR) percentage of recommendations supported
69.11%
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Human Rights Treaties

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State Party State party
Signatory Signatory
No Action No action
United Nations Human Right Treaties
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
State Party
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
State Party
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
State Party
Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
State Party
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment
State Party
Convention on the Rights of the Child
State Party
International Convention on Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families
State Party
International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance 
Signatory
International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
State Party
International Labour Organisation Treaties
Forced Labour Convention
State Party
Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention
State Party
Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention
State Party
Equal Remuneration Convention
State Party
Abolition of Forced Labour Convention
State Party
Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention
State Party
Convention concerning Minimum Age for Admission to Employment
State Party
Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention
State Party
Regional Treaties
Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
State Party
Protocol to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
State Party
Protocol No. 4 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
State Party
Protocol No. 6 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
State Party
Protocol No. 7 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
State Party
Protocol No. 12 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
Signatory
Protocol No. 13 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
No Action
in
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Categories of Democratic Performance

Representation neutral Representation
Apr 2023
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Representation neutral Rights
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Representation neutral Rule of law
Apr 2023
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Representation neutral Participation
Apr 2023
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Sep 2023

Global State of Democracy Indices

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Representation
Representation
0
/1
high 0.7-1.0
mid 0.4-0.7
low 0.0-0.4
Rights
Rights
0
/1
high 0.7-1.0
mid 0.4-0.7
low 0.0-0.4
Rule of Law
Rule of Law
0
/1
high 0.7-1.0
mid 0.4-0.7
low 0.0-0.4
Participation
Participation
0
/1
high 0.7-1.0
mid 0.4-0.7
low 0.0-0.4
Annual value

Factors of Democratic Performance Over Time

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