Azerbaijan - January 2024

The Azerbaijani delegation withdrew from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on 24 January, leaving the country a member of the international rights body but without representation in its assembly. The withdrawal was announced several hours before PACE held a vote expelling the delegation for Azerbaijan’s failure to meet its commitments to hold free and fair elections, respect human rights, and other democratic principles. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on 1 February the country would pull out of the Council and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) if its voting rights were not reinstated. With Azerbaijan’s justice system considered neither impartial nor independent of the executive, applications to the ECtHR are essentially the only recourse for justice or redress in the country. Azerbaijan would be the third country to withdraw CoE since its founding in 1949 (Greece’s withdrew in 1969 but returned in 1974, and Russia withdrew in March 2022).

UPDATE: A coalition of international human rights NGOs wrote to PACE on 21 January to urge MPs not to ratify Azerbaijan’s credentials for 2025. This session began on 27 January and, according to PACE’s website, Azerbaijan did not submit credentials for approval. As of January 2025, Azerbaijan had made no further moves to exit the Council or the ECtHR. 

Sources: Eurasianet, Office of the President of Azerbaijan 

New sources: World Organisation Against Torture, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe