Europe Plus

BAKU
(17 September 2014) – The United Nations Subcommittee on Prevention of
Torture (SPT) has decided to suspend its visit to Azerbaijan due to
obstructions it encountered in carrying out its mandate under the
Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel,
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT), to which
Azerbaijan is a party.

The delegation was prevented from visiting several places where
people are detained and was barred from completing its work at other
sites, despite repeated attempts to do so and assurances of unrestricted
access to all places of deprivation of liberty by Azerbaijani
authorities.

As a result of these serious breaches of Azerbaijan’s obligations
under the Optional Protocol, the delegation concluded that the integrity
of its visit, scheduled to run from 8 to 17 September, had been
compromised to such an extent that it had to be suspended.

The delegation members halted their work on 14 September but some
members remained in Azerbaijan to seek further engagement with the
Azerbaijani authorities on the basis of the information currently at
their disposal. The head of the delegation, Aisha Shujune Muhammad, met
the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs on 16 September.

The SPT expects Azerbaijan to abide by its international obligations
under the Optional Protocol and enter into a constructive dialogue with
the SPT with the view to preventing torture and ill-treatment.

The SPT has a mandate under the OPCAT to conduct on-site visits and
make recommendations to the authorities of State Parties to establish
effective safeguards against the risk of torture and ill-treatment in
places of deprivation of liberty.

The SPT Delegation to the Republic of Azerbaijan comprises the
following members: Ms. Aisha Shujune Muhammad (Head of Delegation), Mr.
Milos Jankovic, Ms. Margarete Suzuko Osterfeld, Mr. Miguel
Sarre-Iguiniz, and Mr. Victor Zaharia (Focal Point for Reprisals).

Background: The Optional Protocol on the Prevention of Torture has to
date been ratified by 73 countries. At the end of a country mission,
the SPT communicates its recommendations and observations to the State
by means of a confidential report, and if necessary to National
Preventive Mechanisms. States parties are encouraged to request that the
SPT makes these reports public.

Find out more about the Optional Protocol:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/OPCAT.aspx

Protest outside BP HQ in London (Photo: Dave Coscia)

This week marks the anniversary of the signing of
the Contract of the Century, when BP began its 20 year relationship with
the Aliyev family

Protesters called on global oil giant BP to reassess its connections
with the regime in Azerbaijan at a gathering outside the company’s
London headquarters.

This week marks the anniversary of the signing of the Contract of the
Century, when BP began its 20 year relationship with the Aliyev family.
The protesters argue that BP’s role in Azerbaijan has provided the
former president, Heydar Aliyev, and the current president, his son
Ilham, with considerable power and money, facilitating the country’s
repressive regime and hampering democracy.

There are currently 98 political prisoners being held in Azerbaijan and the threat of arrest others is also high. Recently, prominent activists Leyla and Arif Yunus and Rasul Jafarov have been jailed, as well as human rights lawyer Intigam Aliyev.

Ramute Remezaite, a human rights lawyer who worked in Azerbaijan,
told Index on Censorship: “It’s very important to tell BP that it is
totally intolerable to cooperate with the government of Azerbaijan, it’s
repressing its own people and putting them to prison for reasons such
as exercising their fundamental human rights.

“Another reason why it’s very important to be here and to hold this
action, is as solidarity with our colleagues in Baku because such an
action is impossible these days in Azerbaijan — people standing in front
of the BP office in Baku would be immediately arrested and sentenced to
one, two, three weeks in prison.”

A group of Azerbaijani civil society organisations plan to send
a letter to Bob Dudley, group chief executive of BP, demanding that the
company call on the Aliyev government to release all political
prisoners, and ensure that other prominent human rights defenders, such as Emin Huseynov, will not face arrest.

Emma Hughes from Platform London, who organised today’s protest, told
Index: “We’re here today in solidarity with Azerbaijani civil society
who are calling on BP to raise the case of the 98 political prisoners in
Azerbaijan and also to drop their sponsorship of the 2015 Baku European
Olympic Games.”

Also attending the protest, alongside Platform London and Index on
Censorship, were representatives from Campaign Against Climate Change,
Article 19 and BP or not BP.

Claire James, from Campaign Against Climate Change, told Index: “I’m
here partly in solidarity with political prisoners but also because our
world’s addiction to fossil fuels is overcoming any common sense about
what we’re doing to the planet and it should not also be overcoming
human rights.”

In conclusion to the letter, Azerbaijani civil society asks that BP
ceases its activities in the country until such times as a “democratic
and accountable government is in power”.

By Aimee Hamilton / 17 September, 2014

This article was posted on 17 Sept 2014 at indexoncensorship.org