Women human rights defenders, including activists, journalists and lawyers are speaking out to hold to account those responsible for a range of human rights violations and to champion women’s human rights, including their rights to freedom of expression and association. However, their efforts have met with ever more intense and egregious reprisals.

This study of women and gender in a Muslim society draws on archival and literary sources as well as the life stories of women of different generations to offer a unique ethnographic and historical account of the lives of urban women in contemporary Azerbaijan. Focussing on a group of professional women in Baku, it provides insight into the impact of the Soviet system on the position of Azeri women, their conceptions of femininity and the significant changes brought about by the post-Soviet transition to a market economy and growing western https://asian-date.net/western-asia/azerbaijan-women influence. Also explored are the ways in which local cultural expectations and Islamic beliefs were accommodated to different modernisation projects.

• The EU repeatedly called for Azerbaijan to release all “prisoners and detainees” captured in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
• The World Organization Against Torture , stated that at least 78 were detained, and 25 sentenced to between 12 and 20 years in prison, in closed trials, “with multiple cases of torture.” At least five of the detainees died within days of their arrest in May 2020.
• The charges include terrorism, espionage, and, in two cases, torturing Azerbaijani citizens during the Karabakh war of the 1990s.
• And while more women are now graduating with science doctorates, they frequently come up against glass ceilings and too often find jobs only in the public sector.
• The police had also interfered with the International Women’s Day gathering in previous years.

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women monitors States parties’ compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which to date has 189 States parties. The Committee is made up of 23 members who are independent human rights experts from around the world elected by the States parties, who serve in their personal capacity and not as representatives of States parties. GENEVA – The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women today issued its findings on Azerbaijan, the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Mongolia, Morocco, Namibia, Portugal, Türkiye and the United Arab Emirates, the States parties that it reviewed during its latest session. The police had also interfered with the International Women’s Day gathering in previous years. In 2020, for example, officers violently detained dozens of people and then dropped them in remote areas outside Baku. Throughout 2021, details emerged supporting allegations that in 2017, military and security officials tortured detainees to extract confessions and other testimony on treason charges.

The project draws on the expertise of women active in all sectors in an effort to move beyond window dressing, while promoting greater transparency and accountability. Implemented by the Azerbaijani Women’s Association for Rational Development, the project will address issues of high relevance to Azerbaijani women, ranging from child and maternal mortality to girls’ education, support for women entrepreneurs, early marriage, improved housing and the minority rights. The parliament became operational in July following final thematic training sessions throughout June, attended by UNDEF Deputy Executive Head Annika Savill. Members are women leaders from civil society organizations throughout Azerbaijan, as well as prominent individuals in both business and academia. In May, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling on Azerbaijan to unconditionally release Armenian POWs and ensure their access to lawyers, doctors and human rights defenders. It also urged Azerbaijan to cooperate with the European Court of Human Rights in investigating reports about inhuman treatment of POWs.

Women in Azerbaijan

Learn more about each topic, see who’s involved, and find the latest news, reports, events and more. Authorities typically dismissed complaints of torture and other ill-treatment in custody, and the practice continued with impunity. Ill-treatment is rampant in police custody, allegedly to coerce confessions, while denying detainees access to family, independent lawyers, or independent medical care. In January, Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan member Niyameddin Ahmedov faced new, dubious charges of incitement and trafficking in banned items. Ahmedov has been in custody since his May 2020 arrest on financing terrorism charges, which stem from allegations that he received funds from an exiled government critic to destabilize the country and assassinate political figures. Police allegedly beat Ahmedov in custody in an attempt to coerce him to falsely testify against an APFP leader. In the period since the war’s start, tensions between the government and political opposition declined.

Azerbaijan: Opposition Leader Sentenced to Years in Prison On Politically Motivated Charges

A new domestic violence law come into force in 2010, which criminalized spousal abuse, including marital rape. Nevertheless, others highlight that in reality many in Azerbaijan do not consider this as a crime and the prevailing culture does not encourage complaints about marital rape. Megan Mangassarian, CFTJCFTJ’s recent White Paper, presenting the evidence of inhumane treatment and torture of Armenian captives, was sent to select members of U.S. Congress, which Voskanian says provides a basis for conducting congressional hearings into Azerbaijan’s violations of human rights. It also urges Congress to sanction and withhold aid from Azerbaijan until they release all Armenian hostages. In 2019, Ismailova left Azerbaijan to study medicine in the Russian city of Krasnoyarsk.

Institute of Peace and Democracy, Society of Women of Azerbaijan for Peace and Democracy of the Transcaucasus

In some ongoing trials, they deprive Armenian captives of the most basic legal protections while the sentences are arbitrary and excessive, unsupported by any factual evidence but are more of a show. The French Journalist, J-Christophe Buisson tweeted about the masked armed Azeri soldiers who stopped the Artsakh Armenian youth soccer team bus on its way to Armenia for a soccer match. Using a dagger to scrape off the Artsakh flag from the surface of the bus, the soldiers inspected the war-traumatized children’s phones, stating Nagorno-Karabakh is part of Azerbaijan. Known in Russian as Настоящее Время, Current Time is a 24/7 television and digital network for Russian speakers, led by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in cooperation with Voice of America. Current Time English regularly showcases a selection of stand-out Current Time content with appeal for international audiences.

Though the majority of Azerbaijani women have jobs outside the home, women are underrepresented in high-level jobs, including top business positions. Women in Azerbaijan nominally enjoy the same legal rights as men; however, societal discrimination remains a problem. Institute of Peace and Democracy, Society of Women of Azerbaijan for Peace and Democracy of the Transcaucasus was awarded $116,402 between 1997 and 1999, including 2 grants in Human Rights. If you are looking for a mentor or want to be a mentor yourself and help more girls and women get into STEM, then get in touch with us. Girls attain higher average scores than boys in university entrance exams in all subjects. In Azerbaijan, the latest 2019 official statistics show that girls performed better than boys in university entrance exams in 2010–2018.