HRW says Riga summit is good opportunity for EU to condition its ties with Azerbaijan on release of political prisoners
European leaders should use a high-level gathering with “Eastern partners” in Riga to insist that the Azerbaijan government unconditionally release anyone held on politically motivated charges. The EU should make clear that deeper engagement with Azerbaijan is impossible until the government rectifies its critical human rights situation, Human Rights Watch said.
“This high-level meeting presents a key opportunity for the EU to make good on its pledges to human rights activists, and unanimously insist that Azerbaijan stop the crackdown and free jailed critics,” said Lotte Leicht, EU director at Human Rights Watch. The EU should make clear that deeper engagement with Azerbaijan is out of the question until the government rectifies its abysmal rights record, she added.
According to the article, in a letter to EU foreign ministers and the EU leadership on April 30 2015, Human Rights Watch urged a strong collective response to the Azerbaijani government’s crackdown and concrete implications for the country’s relations with the EU. The EU should halt its negotiations with Azerbaijan toward a “Strategic Partnership Agreement” until the government releases wrongfully detained activists and dramatically improves conditions for human rights defenders and independent activists and groups, Human Rights Watch said calling on the EU leaders not to attend the opening ceremonies of the European Games.
HRW also called on the European Parliament president, Martin Schulz, during the Riga summit to clearly convey the position of the strongly worded resolution adopted in September 2014, which stressed that the EU’s closer ties with Azerbaijan should be conditioned on the release of imprisoned human rights defenders and called for an “end to repression and intimidation of NGOs.”
“The EU has shown that it can muster the political will to protect human rights defenders under threat in the European neighborhood. Now EU leaders need to tell Azerbaijan that it has crossed the line of what’s permissible from a respectable partner and that there will be repercussions for bilateral and multilateral relationships unless human rights activists are released,” Leicht said.
28 European states representatives are meeting in Riga, Latvia, on May 21 and 22, 2015. Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan, Elmar Mammadyarov, is also present at the summit. The Riga summit is the last high-level meeting between the EU and Azerbaijan before the European Games.
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