Sixty members of the U.S. Congress have signed a bipartisan, bicameral letter led by Representative Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) calling for U.S. leadership in holding Azerbaijan accountable for committing war crimes, taking hostages, and illegally occupying Armenian territory – before the COP29 United Nations climate summit in Baku this November.
I stand before you today to address an issue that strikes at the very foundations of this institution, a pillar of democratic values and human rights.
Following a vote in January 2024 within this Assembly in which the majority of us opposed the ratification of credentials for Azerbaijan’s delegation, the Azerbaijani government in September declared 76 of our members personae non gratae, thereby banning their entry into the country.
The timing of this decision appears deliberately chosen, as Azerbaijan is set to host a United Nations Climate Change Conference in November. The Azerbaijani government has made it clear that unless their delegation’s mandate within the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe is restored, the parliamentarians who opposed them will be barred from attending the climate summit.
This ultimatum, which mixes diplomatic retaliation with global climate negotiations, sets a dangerous precedent. It undermines not only our democratic values, but also the integrity of international co-operation on critical issues like climate change.
Equally troubling is a double standard being applied. While those of us who advocate for climate change solutions and human rights are blacklisted, Azerbaijan has placed no such restrictions on the participation of fossil fuel lobbyists at COP29. In fact, their influence is growing despite the urgent need to phase out fossil fuels and transition to sustainable energy.
This discrepancy undermines the credibility of COP29 and threatens to derail meaningful climate action. I recall that just a few months ago, our Assembly discussed the importance of mainstreaming the human right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, emphasising the need to strengthen the legal framework protecting this right. It is essential to ensure a sustainable present and future for generations to come.
On the contrary, the stakeholders who should face scrutiny are given an open platform in Azerbaijan, while elected representatives committed to defending democratic principles and human rights are being silenced and banned.
This raises serious questions about the future of climate governance.
How can we ensure a fair and just transition if critical voices challenging a country like Azerbaijan, where human rights, the rule of law, and democracy appear to be deteriorating and silenced, while those representing powerful fossil fuel interests remain unchallenged.
As we approach COP29, we must demand not only action on climate change, but also the protection of human rights within the host country.
Climate justice is inseparable from the defence of democratic principles and is closely linked to the pursuit of social justice.
Ms Aurora FLORIDIA (Italy, SOC)
Member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)
1 October 2024
On behalf of the United European Left, I wish to state our huge concern at the continuing path of the authoritarian Azerbaijan regime towards ever greater levels of oppression towards its own citizens, as well as its appalling treatment of the former citizens of Nagorno-Karabakh and its bellicose and threatening behaviour towards its neighbouring country Armenia.
This year both so-called Presidential and Parliamentary elections were held in a manner that would even make the leadership of North Korea blush.
President ALIYEV has won five consecutive elections since succeeding his father, Mr Heydar ALIYEV, in 2003. A 2009 referendum abolished the term limit for the presidency and the post of vice-president was created in 2016 and surprise, surprise was immediately granted to the president’s wife!
To be clear, we are talking about a cruel dictatorship, run as a family mafia dynasty. Responsible for ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh and the oppression of its own citizens. Mr Ilham ALIYEV and his henchmen make television’s Sopranos look like social workers by comparison.
The state of human rights and democracy in Azerbaijan has deteriorated even further in recent years with the detention of human rights activists, opposition figures and independent journalists on politically motivated charges. And, of course, the ethnic cleansing of over 100 000 citizens of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Arbitrary arrests, indefinite detentions, severe beatings, torture and forced disappearances have all become systemic means of oppressing people in the most appalling manner. This year the number of political prisoners has tripled as the regime works to ensure that all opposition voices are silenced in the run-up to COP29 in November. It’s a sad reflection that world powers continue to gift COP to some of the worst regimes on the planet. Money, once again, trumping human rights.
In the light of all of these actions, it is clear that the Assembly was correct to refuse to ratify the credentials of the Azerbaijan delegation earlier this year.
Our values are supposed to be rooted in democracy, human rights and the rule of law. The Azerbaijan regime believes in alternatively in plutocracy, torture and the rule of terror.
I believe it is time to initiate a complementary joint procedure between the Committee of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly in relation to the many serious violations by Azerbaijan of its statutory obligations to this organisation.
Mr Paul GAVAN (Ireland, UEL)
Member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)
1 October 2024
On 24 January, our Assembly resolved not to ratify the credentials of the Azerbaijani delegation. The Assembly was among other things worried about the lack of co-operation in the monitoring procedure and lack of invitation to observe the early presidential election of 7 February. It also cited the human rights situation in Nagorno-Karabakh. Unfortunately, as we approach the COP29, recent developments point in the wrong direction. […] The overall human rights situation in Azerbaijan remains dire. Local human rights groups have reported that at least 303 individuals were imprisoned on political grounds. In addition, we face the unsolved situation around the Armenian prisoners of war and civilian captives who are still detained in Azerbaijan, as mentioned in our Resolution 2483 of 2023, in addition to the fear of ethnic and cultural cleansing after Azerbaijan took control over Nagorno-Karabakh. It should also be noted that since the end of January 2024, the authorities refused to hold high-level talks in Baku with the CPT, the Council of Europe´s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.[…] To conclude, all these developments are very deplorable, the level of suppression seems unprecedented, and complicate even more co-operation with the Assembly and the Council of Europe.
Ms Lise CHRISTOFFERSEN (Norway, SOC)
Member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)
1 October 2024
I also hope that COP29, which will be hosted in Baku starting at the end of November next year, can be an opportunity for the country to reaffirm its commitment to international law, showing the existence of a free and independent civil society.
Ms Elisabetta GARDINI (Italy, EC/DA)
Member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)
1 October 2024
What can Australia and New South Wales and my community do, given this horrible situation? Australia needs to send a strong message to the international community by boycotting the United Nations’ Conference of the Parties 29 [COP29], to be held in Azerbaijan in November. For the Australian or New South Wales governments to visit Azerbaijan is to ignore and make light of our commitment to human rights. Attending would legitimise a regime that disregards human rights.
Mr. Mat Cross (Davidson),
Member of the NSW (Australia) Legislative Assembly
26 September 2024
With the eyes of the world on Baku for #COP29, I have written to the Azeri ambassador to the EU to push for peace with Armenia.
Baku must:
👉 guarantee Armenia’s territorial integrity
👉 preserve Armenian cultural heritage in Nagorno Karabakh
👉 release political prisoners
Mr. Fernand KARTHEISER, MEP (Luxembourg)
European Conservatives and Reformists Group
24 September 2024
September 21st marks Armenian Independence Day. Today we reflect on Armenia’s rich culture and identity, as well as the tragedies of the Armenian genocide and the continued persecution of Armenians like what we have seen in Nagorno-Karabakh. The blockade of this region by Azerbaijan and expulsion of over 100,000 ethnic Armenians must be condemned. I was honoured to share words at the Armenian genocide commemoration event on Parliament Hill in May. It is shocking that Baku has been chosen to host the upcoming UN climate change conference (COP29) at a time when Azerbaijan has just displaced 99% of a regional population. I will not be attending. The ethnic cleansing must end. Armenians have a right to exist and live in security.
Ms. Elizabeth May, MP
Leader of the Green Party of Canada
21 September 2024
Today I join the former Australian foreign Minister, Gareth Evans, who wrote to Australian foreign Minister, Penny Wong, calling for more to be done for the release of Artsakh’s political prisoners, including former State Minister Ruben Vardanyan and his colleagues. The Azeri regime must be held accountable for such crimes, and that is exactly what this Parliament sought to do when a motion that I led in 2022 received bipartisan support, recognising the independence of the self-determined, democratic Armenian territory of the Republic of Artsakh. Instead, the international community has rewarded Azerbaijan with hosting the upcoming global Climate Change Conference, COP 29, in Baku later this year. That conference will be held in the same city that Armenian political prisoners and hostages are illegally rotting in Azeri prisons.
Dr. Hugh McDermott (Prospect),
Member of the NSW (Australia) Legislative Assembly
19 September 2024
I urge all my colleagues in both Houses of the New South Wales Parliament to boycott COP29 in Baku, and I call upon all Federal parliamentarians of Australia to refuse attendance at this summit. […] By attending this summit, Chris Bowen would send a message to the world that Australia is willing to overlook the oppressive and dictatorial regime of Azerbaijan. To attend would be to legitimise a regime that has shown utter disregard for human rights.
Mr. Tim James (Willoughby),
Member of the NSW (Australia) Legislative Assembly
19 September 2024
California Assemblymember Laura Friedman and members of the California Armenian Legislative Caucus have issued a powerful call to action to California’s Secretary for Natural Resources, Wade Crowfoot, to shine a spotlight on Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing and genocide of Artsakh’s indigenous Armenian population and ongoing human rights violations in the run-up to the 2024 United Nations Climate Summit – COP29 – hosted in Azerbaijan this November.
September 10, 2024
If Azerbaijan seeks to create a durable relationship with the Euro-Atlantic community, I urge President Aliyev to release those unjustly imprisoned by his government, including Armenian detainees, and community activists who peacefully demonstrated against poor labor practices and harmful environmental impacts of the Chovdar gold mine operation.
U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Cardin September 9, 2024
Given Azerbaijan’s incredible dependence on state-sponsored fossil fuel production and its poor human rights record, I am deeply troubled that Azerbaijan has been selected as the host country for COP29. Rather than be rewarded for persistently flouting international human rights law—as it attacks and displaces innocent civilians in Nagorno Karabakh and unlawfully detains Armenian prisoners—Azerbaijan must first rectify its human rights abuses and show real commitment to the scientific need to phase out oil and gas, not ramp up its misdeeds on both fronts.
U.S. Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.)
September 3, 2024
In a message on social media, Victorian Member of the Legislative Council, Renee Heath MP, has called on ‘no Australian parliamentarian, including Australian Climate Change Minister, to step foot on Azerbaijani soil’ for #COP29 later this year in Baku. Thank you Renee!
Chris Bowen MP
We CANNOT BELIEVE that #EU will attend #COP29 in #Baku and won’t address the issues of the Armenians Hostages of #War.
We CANNOT BELIEVE that EU won’t DEMAND actively and emphatically from #Azerbaijan to never-ever attack the #Armenians lands again.
Fragkos Emmanouil Fragkoulis, MEP
In recent communication with the ANCC, Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Hon. Mélanie Joly reaffirmed that “Canada will continue to press Azerbaijan to engage in good faith with Armenia, resolve the conflict through a negotiated and peaceful political solution by respecting the Helsinki Principles, liberate arbitrary held Armenian prisoners, respect Armenia’s territorial integrity and refrain from the use of force and threatening rhetoric.â€
Michael Sukkar, Australian MP, Member for Deakin, speaking about #COP29 later this year in Azerbaijan. “No Australian should step foot on the soil of a regime that is covered in the blood of Armenians and journalists.”
Azerbaijan’s Human Rights Abuses Should Bar it From Ever Hosting the COP Summit
Paulus Polman, is a Dutch businessman and author, a former vice chair of the UN Global Compact. He was the chief executive officer (CEO) of the British/Dutch consumer goods company Unilever. Polman is also the co-author (with Andrew Winston) of Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take.
Luis Moreno Ocampo Calls on Armenians to ‘Expose all the Abuses of President Ilham Aliyev’
Bernard Kouchner
Former Foreign Minister of France / Ancien ministre des affaires étrangères et européennes de la France
Former French Foreign Minister Condemns Holding COP29 Climate Conference in Azerbaijan
COP29 : « La lutte contre le changement climatique ne peut être dissociée du respect des droits humains »
Stay home
In her message of solidarity on the 109th Anniversary of the #ArmenianGenocide, New South Wales Member of the Legislative Council, The Hon. Jacqui Munro MLC, has called on Australians to ‘stay home’ and not attend #COP29 later this year in Baku. “As a former participant of the Climate Conference, such a decision was not taken lightly. No Australian should step foot on the soil of a regime covered in the blood of journalists, human rights advocates and Armenians.”
