As a co-signatory of an open letter to the Presidium of the Azerbaijani Bar Association, the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) condemns the disproportionate disciplinary measures taken against Azerbaijani human rights lawyer Shahla Humbatova. The letter, co-signed by prominent international human rights organisations Civil Rights Defenders, Freedom House, the International Partnership for Human Rights and Lawyers for Lawyers, calls for the Azerbaijani…

Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Centre carried out the long-term observation of the 23 December 2019 Municipal Elections in Azerbaijan covering all stages of the electoral process – nomination of candidates, campaigning, election day voting and vote counting processes. EMDS conducted the long-term observation in cooperation with 17 non-partisan observers while working with 125 observers…

New report by International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR) and Human Rights Club analyses the existing national legislative framework regulating the exercise of the right to freedom of religion and belief in Azerbaijan, and its compliance with international legal standards, in particular the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental…

Commissioner Dunja Mijatović and her team visited Azerbaijan from 8 to 12 July 2019. During the visit, the Commissioner held discussions with the Azerbaijani authorities, the Ombudsman, representatives of civil society and lawyers. This report focuses on several issues raised during the visit: the right to freedom of expression; recent developments concerning the situation of…

This year’s DocLisboa, which took place in the laid-back but rapidly gentrifying Portuguese capital from 17-27 October, had a slight, wistful but unmistakable valedictory air. After seven years at the helm, the widely-respected director of the non-fiction-oriented—but by no means documentary-only—festival, Cíntia Gil, was heading off to the challenging new pastures of Sheffield’s Doc/Fest. Her «number two,» Italian…

On 22nd November 2019, EIN held its quarterly civil society briefing, ahead of the 1362nd CM-DH meeting. Over 40 participants attended the briefing, including participants from 29 Permanent Representations to the Council of Europe, the EU representation to the Council of Europe, the office of the Commissioner for Human Rights and other CoE staff members.…