Human rights in Azerbaijan

Politics of Azerbaijan
Constitution Constitutional court Human rights
Head of state President Ilham Aliyev Vice President: Mehriban Aliyeva Office of the President
Executive Prime Minister Ali Asadov Cabinet of Ministers
National Assembly National Assembly Speaker: Sahiba Gafarova
Judiciary Judiciary
Administrative divisions Administrative divisions
Elections Presidential: 2013 2018 2024 Parliamentary: 2015 2020 Political parties
Foreign relations Ministry of Foreign Affairs Minister: Jeyhun Bayramov Diplomatic missions of / in Azerbaijan Nationality law Passport Visa requirements Visa policy Azerbaijan–European Union relations Azerbaijan–NATO relations Armenia–Azerbaijan relations Azerbaijan–China relations Azerbaijan–France relations Azerbaijan–Georgia relations Azerbaijan–Germany relations Azerbaijan–Iran relations Azerbaijan–Israel relations Azerbaijan–Italy relations Azerbaijan–Netherlands relations Azerbaijan–Poland relations Azerbaijan–Russia relations Azerbaijan–Spain relations Azerbaijan–Turkey relations Azerbaijan–Ukraine relations Azerbaijan–United Kingdom relations Azerbaijan–United States relations
Azerbaijan portal Other countries
v t e

International organizations have frequently alleged that Azerbaijan has violated human rights standards established in international law.

Human Rights Watch issued a 2013 report accusing Azerbaijan of imprisoning and harassing political activists and human rights defenders.^[1][2][3] In 2019, Human Rights Watch called the situation of human rights in Azerbaijan "appalling",^[4] citing "rigid control" by the government, "severely curtailing freedoms of association, expression, and assembly", as well as "torture and ill-treatment" of journalists, lawyers, and opposition activists.^[5] According to Reporters without Borders, Azerbaijan ranks 167 of 180 countries on the Press Freedom Index.^[6] A 2020 report by the U.S. State Department accused Azerbaijan of a wide variety of human rights abuses, including "unlawful or arbitrary killing", "heavy restrictions on free expression, the press, and the internet", and "the worst forms of child labor".^[7] A 2022 human rights review of Azerbaijan by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination found that during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabagh Conflict, the Azerbaijani military committed "severe and grave human rights violations ... against prisoners of war and other protected persons of Armenian ethnic or national origin, including extrajudicial killings, torture and other ill-treatment and arbitrary detention as well as the destruction of houses, schools, and other civilian facilities".^[8]

The Constitution of Azerbaijan contains 48 Articles regarding principal human and civil rights. Section 3 of the Constitution establishes the major rights and freedoms of citizens of Azerbaijan, including human rights, property rights, equality rights, intellectual property rights, civil rights, the rights of the accused, the right to strike, social security, the right to vote and freedom of speech, conscience and thought.

On 28 December 2001, the National Assembly of the Republic of Azerbaijan adopted the Constitutional Law on the Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and on 5 March 2002, the President signed a Decree on the application of this Law thus creation and functioning of the legal framework for the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Republic of Azerbaijan.^[9]