UN Committee scarifies the situation with human rights in Azerbaijan

On August 5, the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations promulgated a document about the situation with human rights in Azerbaijan, passed on the outcomes of the discussion at the 96th Session on July 13-31 in Geneva of the third periodic report on Azerbaijan.

The document that has arrived to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent from the UN representative office in Baku expresses concern on a whole range of issues related to human rights.

In particular, among the points of concern the UN Committee indicates violence against women, early marriages and restrictions of women's at appointment to high state posts.

A serious problem is a deficit of advocates, especially outside the capital, violations of the rights of the persons detained by the police, refusal of the authorities to grant refuge and eviction of those who applied for asylum out of the country. The UN Committee expresses its concern over the isolation facility possessed by the Ministry for National Security, although this SIZO, like others, should be under the Ministry of Justice.

The committee of the United Nations ascertains the continued practice of torture and inhuman treatment and deaths of detainees in police stations and prisons.

The UN Committee is also concerned of the messages about corruption of the judiciary and the legal system of Azerbaijan as a whole, which is, as the document marks, especially bad at the background of the actual absence of any independent judicial system in the country.

The Committee is anxious about the latest restrictions in the legislation, demanding submission of religious communities to the Department of Moslems of Caucasus and their mandatory registration.

Besides, a concern is expressed of serious restrictions of the right for the freedom of expression and mass media, closing of some newspapers and refusal to licence broadcasting of some foreign radio stations.

It was not possible to receive any comments at the President's Administration and the Ministry of Justice of Azerbaijan.