Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan undertook on accession to the Council of Europe in 2001 that it would adopt a law on alternative service in compliance with European standards by January 2003. It has still not done so. To this day Azerbaijani conscientious objectors are imprisoned.

Azerbaijani peace activists have been reprimanded by the authorities for their online behaviour critising the war between Azerbaijan and Armenia. OC Media reported on the cases of five activists who were summoned by the State Security Services, as several others were told to delete their posts and comment no more. [1] [2] One of them, Giyas Ibrahimov was previously detained briefly in the initial days of the war for ‘criticising an anchor on public TV’. Since early days of the war, Ibrahimov has become known for his anti-war posts on social media. His detention in September was indeed only hours after one of his posts criticising the war. [3] He also reported had also been receiving threats ‘since the second day of the escalation’. [4] Several other young Azerbaijani activists who signed the Peace Statement (see below) have reported receiving pressure and threats online. Another anti-war activist, Latif Mammadov, has claimed that the Azerbaijani security services threatened to kill him and his family over his online activities. [5]

In September 2020, a group of activists, including Ibrahimov, released an anti-war statement under the name of Azerbaijani Leftist Youth. [6] The statement said:

“We do not see our future or the resolution of the conflict in further military escalations and spreading mutual hatred. Recent military clashes in Nagorno-Karabakh don’t do any good for the purpose of the establishment of peace in the region. We do not even want to envision the risks of being dragged into a full-scale war, as we understand what kind of implications it could have for our societies and future generations. We strongly condemn every move taken to prolong the conflict and deepen hatred between the two peoples. We want to look back and take the steps necessary to rebuild the trust between our societies and the youth. We reject every nationalist and state-of-war narratives that exclude any possibility of us living together again on this soil. We call for peacebuilding and solidarity initiatives. We believe that there is an alternative way out of this stalemate through mutual respect, peaceful attitude, and cooperation."

In October 2020, having previously launched a project entitled "Caucasus Talks" in May, a group of young people from Azerbaijan and Armenia in the South Caucasus co-signed and published the Peace Statement, making a call for peace amid escalating conflicts between neighboring countries Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Hundreds of people from Armenia, Azerbaijan, and throughout the world have signed the Peace Statement so far (see also the Foreword by EBCO President). [7]

There was an asylum seeker from Azerbaijan in Belgium citing CO grounds (see the following section).