ArmInfo. The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has published an update on the conditions for religious freedom in Azerbaijan.
Thus, the document indicates that in 2019, religious freedom conditions in Azerbaijan trended positively, as the government largely ceased conducting raids on religious communities and similarly reduced its longstanding practice of detaining and fining individuals in connection with the unauthorized, peaceful practice of their religion or beliefs. In March 2019, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev issued a presidential pardon that resulted in the release of 51 political and religious prisoners. In another positive development, the State Committee for Work with Religious Associations (SCWRA) granted registration to 31 Muslim communities and three Christian communities over the course of the year.
Despite these improvements, the government continued to exert undue control and oversight over all religious communities and their activities. Government officials continued to manage and limit religious practices through the 2009 Law on Freedom of Religion and related articles of the administrative and criminal codes. Among other restrictions, the law requires religious communities to register with the government; criminalizes all unregistered religious activity; restricts religious activity to each community's registered legal address; and requires state approval for the content, production, import, export, distribution, and sale of all religious literature. As a result, Christian communities and individuals reported limiting or conducting some of their religious activities in secret out of fear of a possible government crackdown. Azerbaijan continued to imprison individuals in connection with their religious activities. According to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) tracking political prisoners in the country, as many as 45 religious activists remained incarcerated at the end of the year.
The report recommends to include Azerbaijan on the U.S. Department of State's Special Watch List for engaging in or tolerating severe violations of religious freedom pursuant to the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA); work with the government of Azerbaijan to revise the 2009 religion law to comply with international human rights standards, and bring it into conformity with recommendations made in 2012 by the Council of Europe's Venice Commission and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE); and Assist the government of Azerbaijan, in collaboration with international partners, to develop an alternative civilian service and permit conscientious objection pursuant to Azerbaijan's commitment to the Council of Europe, obligations under international human rights law, and the Azerbaijani constitution. The U.S. Congress should: Hold public hearings to investigate Azerbaijan's religious freedom and broader human rights abuses, including its treatment of the Muslim Unity Movement; raise related concerns directly with the Azerbaijani Embassy and other government officials; and advocate for the release of all prisoners of conscience.
USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan U.S. federal government commission created by the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) that monitors the universal right to freedom of religion or belief abroad. USCIRF uses international standards to monitor religious freedom violations globally, and makes policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress. The 2020 Annual Report is a summary of the year's work of panelists and experts, in particular documenting violations in the surveyed regions and developing independent policy recommendations for the US government. The 2020 Annual Report covers the period from January 2019 to December 2019 inclusive, but in some cases it mentions significant events before or after this time frame. The details of the report are available at the following link: https://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/Azerbaijan.pdf