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IN THE SPOTLIGHT
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European Parliament Adopts Resolution on Azerbaijan10 September 2015 The resolution of the European Parliament (EP) mostly focused on the human rights developments in the country. There was a heated debate on the situation in Azerbaijan in the plenary. The EP called on Azerbaijan to respect and implement its commitments as a member of Council of Europe and comply with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) rulings. In line with these rulings, the Parliament called for an immediate release of all political prisoners, among them human rights defenders and journalists, including Khadija Ismayilova, Leyla and Arif Yunus, while demanding to end immediately government crackdown on civil society. The adopted resolution called on several measures to be taken by the European Commission "to review and suspend temporarily, if needed, all funding not related to human rights, civil society and grassroots level people-to-people cooperation granted to Azerbaijan through the European Neighbourhood Instrument” and for the EU Strategic Partnership Agreement with Azerbaijan to be immediately put on hold until concrete steps are taken by the government to advance human rights. In light of the approaching elections in Azerbaijan and in the conditions of a flawed electoral environment, the resolution recalled Parliament's decision to send a delegation to Azerbaijan and asked the European External Action Service (EEAS) and Member States to refrain from election observation activities for the time being. From the European Commission side, Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos who spoke at the plenary stated that the EU will pursue its human rights objectives in EU-Azerbaijan relationship. |
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