Reports

“We Try to Stay Invisible”

Azerbaijan's Escalating Crackdown on Critics and Civil Society

The 74-page report, “‘We Try to Stay Invisible’: Azerbaijan's Escalating Crackdown on Critics and Civil Society,” documents the government’s concerted efforts to decimate civil society and silence its critics. The authorities have arrested dozens of people on politically motivated, bogus criminal charges. They have also arbitrarily enforced repressive laws that push independent groups and media to the margins of the law, heightening their vulnerability to retaliatory criminal prosecution. The groups documented 33 prominent cases of criminal prosecution, detention, and harassment. They found that Azerbaijani authorities have deliberately misused laws regulating nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to deny certain groups registration and funding, exposing people affiliated with them to criminal charges.

Police Police seize a poster that reads “Journalism is Not a Crime” during a protest by journalists in front of the Azerbaijan parliament building
Nadia, a Sudanese refugee who has fled the violence in Sudan's Darfur region, hugs her friend Khadidja, beside makeshift shelters near the border between Sudan and Chad in Koufroun, Chad on May 11, 2023. 

World Report 2024

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  • February 23, 2022

    No One is Spared

    Abuses Against Older People in Armed Conflict

    The 49-page report, “No One Is Spared: Abuses against Older People in Armed Conflict,” describes patterns of abuses documented by Human Rights Watch between 2013 and 2021 against older people affected by armed conflicts in Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Mali, Mozambique, Nagorno-Karabakh, Niger, South Sudan, Syria, and Ukraine. The report also draws on the serious protracted violence in two English-speaking regions of Cameroon, Myanmar security force atrocities against older ethnic Rohingya in Rakhine State, and the experiences of older refugees in Lebanon displaced by conflict in Syria.

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  • October 20, 2016

    Harassed, Imprisoned, Exiled

    Azerbaijan’s Continuing Crackdown on Government Critics, Lawyers, and Civil Society

    This report documents the government’s concerted efforts to undermine civil society. Human Rights Watch found that in 2016, the authorities used false, politically motivated criminal and administrative charges to prosecute political activists, journalists, and others. The government has built a restrictive legal and policy framework to paralyze the work of independent groups. Lawyers willing to defend critics have faced retaliation and disbarment. Although the authorities released several human rights defenders and others in early 2016, many others remain in prison or fled into exile.

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  • September 1, 2013

    Tightening the Screws

    Azerbaijan’s Crackdown on Civil Society and Dissent

    This 100-page report documents the dramatic deterioration of the government’s record on freedom of expression, assembly, and association in the past 18 months. The authorities have arrested dozens of political activists on bogus charges, imprisoned critical journalists, broken up peaceful public demonstrations, and adopted legislation imposing new restrictions on fundamental freedoms.
  • February 29, 2012

    “They Took Everything from Me”

    Forced Evictions, Unlawful Expropriations, and House Demolitions in Azerbaijan’s Capital

    This report documents the Azerbaijani authorities’ illegal expropriation of properties and forcible evictions of dozens of families in four Baku neighborhoods, at times without warning or in the middle of the night. The authorities subsequently demolished homes, sometimes with residents’ possessions inside.

  • October 26, 2010

    Beaten, Blacklisted, and Behind Bars

    The Vanishing Space for Freedom of Expression in Azerbaijan

    This 94-page report documents the government's efforts to limit freedom of expression in Azerbaijan, where Human Rights Watch has documented restrictions on freedom of expression for many years. For this report, Human Rights Watch interviewed over 37 print and radio journalists and editors in June 2010.
  • November 18, 2005

    Azerbaijan Elections and After

    Respect for human rights in the November 2005 parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan fell far short of international standards, with serious violations occurring both prior to and on election day. These shortcomings once again underscored the urgent need for major reforms in the areas of freedom of expression and assembly, the electoral law and its implementation, and accountability mechanisms.
  • August 9, 2005

    Azerbaijan and the European Neighborhood Policy

    In recent years, Azerbaijan has received increasing attention from Europe and the United States, accompanied by increased aid allocations and defense and other cooperation. The Azerbaijani government recognizes and seeks the benefits of developing closer relations with Europe and the United States. This suggests that the relationship with the E.U.
  • January 22, 2004

    Crushing Dissent

    Repression, Violence and Azerbaijan's Elections

    This 61-page report documents hundreds of arbitrary arrests, widespread beatings and torture, and politically motivated job dismissals of members and supporters of the opposition following the October 15 presidential election, which was widely condemned by the international community as fraudulent.
  • October 13, 2003

    Azerbaijan: Presidential Elections 2003

    On October 15, 2003, citizens of Azerbaijan will vote for a new president, following an election campaign that from the beginning was heavily manipulated by the government to favor Prime Minister Ilham Aliev, son of President Heidar Aliev. The government ensured that election commissions would be stacked to favor Aliev, and banned nongovernmental organizations from monitoring the vote.
  • October 30, 2000

    Azerbaijani Parliamentary Elections Manipulated

    Parliamentary elections scheduled for November 5 were to have been a test of Azerbaijan's commitment to the rule of law and to its obligations as a country seeking accession to join the Council of Europe.
  • August 1, 1999

    Azerbaijan: Impunity for Torture

    Azerbaijani security forces regularly torture those in custody, and get away with it, according to a this report. The international monitoring group charged that Azerbaijan has failed to enact legal reforms and that corruption is rampant in the criminal justice system.
  • December 1, 1994

    Azerbaijan: Seven Years of Conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh

    Now the longest-running conflict in the former Soviet Union, the battle for Nagorno-Karabakh has rapidly expanded and intensified since it began in 1988, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 25,000 soldiers and civilians and the displacement of one million others.
  • July 1, 1993

    Bloodshed in the Caucasus

    Indiscriminate Bombing & Shelling by Azerbaijani Forces in Nagorno-karabakh

    Armenian and Azerbaijani forces are fighting for control of Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory within Azerbaijan in the former Soviet Union. The Armenians are fighting for self-determination and independence from Azerbaijan; the Azerbaijanis fight for the territorial integrity of their country.
  • September 1, 1992

    Bloodshed in the Caucasus

    Escalation of the Armed Conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh

    The four-year struggle for control over Nagorno-Karabakh has escalated in recent months to full-scale conflict, leaving in its wake hundreds of civilian casualties. Both parties to this tragic conflict have systematically violated the most basic rules of international humanitarian law.