[6] A 2020 report by the U.S. State Department accused Azerbaijan of a wide variety of human rights abuses, including "unlawful or arbitrary killing", "heavy restrictions on free expression, the press, and the internet", and "the worst forms of child labor".
[7] A 2022 human rights review of Azerbaijan by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination found that during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabagh Conflict, the Azerbaijani military committed "severe and grave human rights violations ... against prisoners of war and other protected persons of Armenian ethnic or national origin, including extrajudicial killings, torture and other ill-treatment and arbitrary detention as well as the destruction of houses, schools, and other civilian facilities".
[9] The country is accused of ethnic cleansing, in 2023 having used a blockade of the Lachin corridor and a land invasion to induce the evacuation of the Armenian population out of Nagorno-Karabakh.
[12] Talysh people have "suffered as a result of the long-term deprivation of cultural and educational rights and from the effects of economic neglect of their region".
According to Michigan State University political scientist Ani Sarkissian, "the Azerbaijani government attempts to control religious practice to keep it from becoming an independent social force that might threaten the nondemocratic nature of the regime.
[19] As of 2021[update], Azerbaijan has the lowest rate of compliance of any Council of Europe member state with implementing leading judgements of the ECtHR from the last 10 years.
[36] Also, former president Heidar Aliyev, is known to have filled the Central and Local electoral commissions with government supporters prior to various key elections since 2003.
[citation needed] Azerbaijan has been harshly criticized for bribing members and officials from international organizations to legitimize the fraudulent elections, a practice which has been termed as "caviar diplomacy".
[38][39][40][41] Recently this has been the case with MEPs of the European Parliament, whose positive assessment of Azerbaijani elections sparked a major scandal in Europe.
[42][43][44][45] European Stability Initiative (ESI) think tank has published a series of detailed reports exposing the vested interest of the observation missions participating in Azerbaijani elections.
[citation needed][49] The blanket ban on opposition gatherings was lifted by presidential decree after national pressure, but events leading up to parliamentary elections later that year proved this to be merely a nominal change for a very short time.
The authorities denied opposition supporters the right to demonstrate or hold rallies in or near any city centers and special places were designated for this purpose.
[50] According to the Human Rights Watch 2013 report, "Azerbaijan’s record on freedom of expression, assembly, and the association has been on a steady decline for some years, but it has seen a dramatic deterioration since mid-2012".
On 20 July the U.S. State Department urged Azerbaijan to avoid using the pandemic to silence "civil society advocacy, opposition voices, or public discussion.
Since joining the Council of Europe, the Azerbaijani Government have released one hundred political prisoners, but many remain in custody, and opposition supporters continue to be detained without proof of wrongdoing.
[57][58] In March 2011, opposition activists Bakhtiyar Hajiyev and Jabbar Savalan were arrested after they helped to organize Arab Spring-style protests through Facebook.
[66] Later on in 2013, seven young activists, including four board members, of Nida Civic Movement were kidnapped and arrested after the protests held against the non-combat military deaths in March and April in Baku.
[72] Next 4 members of NIDA were among the prisoners pardoned by the presidential order dated 16 March 2019 which was welcomed by European External Action Service.
[80] International instances such as the Human Rights Commissioner of the Council of Europe have consistently refuted the justifications by the Azerbaijani authorities that jailed journalists had been prosecuted and sentenced for common crimes.
[80] According to RFE/RL, Azerbaijan's government "has a long history of using its criminal justice system to silence political rivals and journalists who criticize the corruption that has enriched Aliyev's relatives and inner circle of allies".
Aliyev's authoritarian rule has shut down independent media outlets and suppressed opposition parties while holding elections deemed neither free nor fair by international monitoring groups.
[82][83] The ruling family has aroused suspicion from various independent media outlets for their vast wealth, as evidenced by the purchasing of extensive multimillion-dollar properties in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
[88] The Implementation of the plan includes regular and systematic peer review of the legal and institutional framework for fighting corruption in the covered countries by the signing parties.
Nevertheless, the European Parliament appreciated the release of two bloggers and the creation of the new subcommittees of the EU-Azerbaijan Cooperation Committee in the areas of justice, human rights and democracy, and delivered its thanks to Azerbaijan for the contributions to the Eastern Partnership.
[99] In August 2022, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination highlighted human rights abuses committed by Azerbaijani military personnel against people of Armenian ethnic origin during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabagh Conflict.
The Committee expressed deep concern regarding "severe and grave human rights violations committed during 2020 hostilities and beyond by the Azerbaijani military forces against prisoners of war and other protected persons of Armenian ethnic or national origin, including extrajudicial killings, torture and other ill-treatment and arbitrary detention as well as the destruction of houses, schools, and other civilian facilities".
[8] Human rights are considered exceptionally poor in the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan, dubbed "Azerbaijan's North Korea" by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in 2007.