Wayzata World Factbook 1996/The World Factbook - 1996 Edition - Wayzata Technology (3079) (1996).iso/pc/text/humanrts/azerbaij.txt

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TITLE:  AZERBAIJAN HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1994
AUTHOR:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DATE:  FEBRUARY 1995


                           AZERBAIJAN


Azerbaijan is a republic with a presidential form of government.
Heydar Aliyev, a former Communist Party First Secretary of
Azerbaijan and Soviet Politburo member, assumed presidential
powers after the 1993 overthrow of his democratically elected
predecessor, Abulfez Elcibey, and was elected President in
October 1993.  He and his supporters dominate the Government
and the 52-member Milli Maclis (National Council), which
exercises parliamentary powers.

Police and the Ministry of National Security are entrusted with
internal security.  They were responsible for widespread human
rights abuses, including beating and detaining persons
arbitrarily, conducting searches and seizures without warrants,
and suppressing peaceful demonstrations.

Azerbaijan has a state-controlled economy rich in oil, gas, and
cotton.  The economy continued to deteriorate in 1994 because
of the conflict with the Armenians over Nagorno-Karabakh.  The
Government has not effectively replaced or restored the trade
links with the rest of the former Soviet Union.

There were widespread human rights abuses in 1994, some of
which arose out of the continuing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Both sides used artillery and rocket fire indiscriminately
against civilian targets, and Azerbaijanis also mounted air
attacks against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.  Both sides have
thus far respected the cease-fire negotiated in May.  The
Government waged a harsh campaign to suppress the political
opposition and to censor the press.  Security authorities beat
detainees and demonstrators and arrested persons arbitrarily.
While the Government tolerates the existence of independent
media and political parties, it has demonstrated a disregard
for the right to freedom of speech, press, assembly, and
association when it has deemed it in its interest to do so.
Although harassment of ethnic Armenians outside Nagorno-
Karabakh--by individual Azerbaijanis rather than as deliberate
government policy--has subsided considerably, that community
continues to live in fear and uncertainty.

RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Section 1  Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including
           Freedom from:

     a.  Political and Extrajudicial Killing

On the night of September 29, gunmen killed two high-ranking
Azerbaijani officials:  Afiyaddin Jalilov, Vice Speaker of the
Parliament, and Shamsi Rahimov, a member of the President's
staff.  These killings marked a significant increase in the
level of political violence.  By year's end, the authorities
had been unsuccessful in discovering the perpetrators of these
assassinations, as well as of the terrorist bombings that
claimed several dozen lives in Baku subway and railway stations
in 1994.  The Azerbaijanis have accused Armenians based in
Russia of responsibility for the bombing incidents.  According
to the National Security Ministry, bombing attacks in 1994 on
rail lines and the Baku subway resulted in 37 deaths and over
100 wounded.  No group claimed responsibility.

     b.  Disappearance

The practice of taking and exchanging hostages was relatively
less common than in the early phases of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict.  Both sides have reportedly taken both military
prisoners and civilian captives.  Private parties have in some
instances held prisoners of war and civilians and arranged
ransoms for profit.  A separate practice has been the
government-to-government exchange of civilian prisoners; such
official exchanges in 1994, including an exchange in October
under the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe
(CSCE) auspices, involved under 40 persons from each side.
Azerbaijani gangs have ceased their kidnaping of ethnic
Armenian residents in Baku.  The overwhelming majority of
ethnic Armenians outside Nagorno-Karabakh have already been
driven out of the country, and those who do remain by necessity
maintain a very low profile.

     c.  Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading
         Treatment or Punishment

There were no reports of torture, but supporters of the
opposition Azerbaijan Popular Front (APF) assert credibly that
police beat opposition leaders in the course of breaking up
political demonstrations (see Section 2.b.).

Prisons conditions are grim, and provisions for medical care
are inadequate.  The International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC) monitors the treatment and conditions of Armenian
prisoners in Azerbaijani detention centers.  In Nagorno-
Karabakh, the ICRC has visited Azerbaijani prisoners held in
connection with the conflict in order to monitor their
treatment and conditions of detention.

     d.  Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile

Police and security forces regularly detained and arrested
persons in conjunction with government efforts to restrict
freedom of the press and opposition political activities (see
Section 2.a. and 2.b.).  In addition, in another instance of
arbitrary use of police powers, police on August 13 detained 10
intellectuals at a Baku teahouse on vague charges of disobeying
police authority but released them after a few days in
detention.  Arbitrary detentions occurred in several waves
during periods of political unrest and demonstrations.
Estimates of the number detained differ widely, but a total of
about 200 people may have been detained without charges.  They
were released after brief periods of detention (under a week in
most cases).

     e.  Denial of Fair Public Trial

Azerbaijan's criminal justice system, including its courts,
laws, and procedures, follow the former Soviet model.  The
courts of general jurisdiction may hear criminal, civil, and
juvenile cases.  District and municipal courts try the
overwhelming majority of cases, but a Supreme Court tries
some.  Both may act as the court of first instance, depending
on the nature and seriousness of the crime.

Prosecutors, like the courts, are organized into offices at the
district, municipal, and republic levels and are ultimately
responsible to the Prosecutor General, appointed by
Parliament.  Prosecutors and defense attorneys by law have
equal status before the courts.  In practice, prosecutors still
are very influential because court proceedings are not
conducted in an adversarial manner.  Prosecutors direct all
criminal investigations, which are usually conducted by the
Ministry of Internal Affairs.  Moreover, the presumption of
innocence with respect to defendants has not been incorporated
into the Criminal Code.

Cases at the district court level are tried before a panel
consisting of one judge and two lay assessors.  Judges
frequently send cases unlikely to end in convictions back to
the prosecutor for "additional investigation."  Such cases may
then be dropped or closed, occasionally without informing the
court or the defendant.

By law, trials are to be publicly conducted except when
government secrets are considered at issue.  Defendants may
confront witnesses and present evidence.  The court appoints an
attorney for indigent defendants.  Defendants have the right of
appeal, as do prosecutors.

Judges do not function independently from the other branches of
government.  The current Government has removed judges
considered close to the previous Elcibey government.  The
statutory commitment to public trial also has not always been
upheld, e.g., in the case of Azerbaijani military officer Arif
Pashayev.  Pashayev was a prominent APF figure charged with the
willful loss of military positions in the Karabakh conflict.
In July police dispersed and beat relatives protesting court
proceedings.  Several related cases have been pending in the
courts.  There were about 25 persons in prison on political
grounds at year's end.

     f.  Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
         Correspondence

The Soviet surveillance apparatus, reorganized as the Ministry
of National Security, became more active than under the
previous Elcibey government.  It is widely and credibly
believed that the Ministry taps telephones, especially those of
foreigners and prominent political and business figures.  The
police have periodically raided the offices of opposition press
and political parties on the grounds of a search for illicit
weapons.  The post-October emergency legislation, extended in
December by the legislature until early February 1995, made
explicit the right to conduct such searches.  The police also
make periodic sweeps in search of young men evading the draft.

     g.  Use of Excessive Force and Violations of Humanitarian
         Law in Internal Conflicts

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict began in 1988.  The ethnic
Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh sought union with
Armenia until the collapse of the Soviet Union and the creation
of independent Armenian and Azerbaijani republics with
internationally recognized borders.  The demand of the
Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians later became one for independence
from Azerbaijan.

By June 1992, ethnic Armenians had expelled all ethnic
Azerbaijanis from the Nagorno-Karabakh region and had opened a
corridor to Armenia through the Azerbaijani region of Lachin,
which had a substantial Kurdish population.  In 1993 they
captured the province of Kelbacar, which lies between
Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, as well as large areas
surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh.  They drove out the inhabitants
and looted and burned the provincial capitals and most of the
villages of these regions.  The U.N. Security Council condemned
these offensive actions, including the looting and burning.

Until the May 1994 cease-fire, all parties to the conflict
engaged in indiscriminate shelling and rocket fire against
civilian targets, including in both directions along the
Armenia-Azerbaijan border.  Before the cease-fire, the
Azerbaijanis also mounted fixed-wing air attacks against
civilian targets in both Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia.  All
parties to the conflict have cut normal trade and
transportation links to the other sides, causing severe
hardship to civilians in Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia, and the
Azerbaijani exclave of Naxcivan.

After agreeing to a cease-fire in May, the parties maintained
it throughout the rest of the year.

Section 2  Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

     a.  Freedom of Speech and Press

The Government severely restricts freedom of speech and press.
It officially censors the press and subjects newspaper premises
to searches and raids.  It may close newspapers for 1 month if
they violate military censorship by publishing information
contrary to what it believes are the interests of the country.
Despite warnings to several papers, the Government has not
exercised this authority.

Official censorship decreased after the state of emergency was
lifted in September 1993, but its existence remained
influential in convincing editors to self-censor their copy.
Police searches and raids were another way of interfering with
the operations of the press, much of which is affiliated with
political parties.  For example, in February police temporarily
seized part of the Azadliq newspaper's premises after weeks of
repeated unauthorized searches of Azadliq and other newspaper
premises.  Police conducted similar searches at Azadliq's
premises on at least one other occasion during 1994.  Both
incidents involved a search for arms and unspecified subversive
literature.  The searches were carried out on the authority of
the district police commander, without judicial involvement.
Both newspaper offices and their distributors remained subject
to surprise raids.  For example, authorities raided the
distributor Gaya in March after a caricature of the Interior
Minister was published.

After imposing a new state of emergency in early October on
Gance and Baku, following the political crisis, the Government
added a third a third level of censorship to the existing
military and political censors, with immediate and noticeable
effect on newspaper editorial content.

The number of newspapers available, both in Azerbaijani and
Russian, remained large, although many suffered economic
hardship, and some folded or reduced their frequency.  However,
new papers were also started.  Many opposition newspapers
continued to publish, including at least five major newspapers
sympathetic to or officially published by the APF, the Musavat
Party, and the Azerbaijan National Independence Party, the main
political opposition.  Small sensationalist newspapers
continued to publish investigative interviews and news items.

The Government controls most radio and television, and the
opposition has little access to the official electronic media.
In June the Government closed an independent television
station, B-M-TI, allegedly for violating government regulations
but apparently because its owners spoke out against the
Government's foreign policy.  In an incident in November, the
director of an independent television-radio company, ANS, was
beaten at the direction of the head of the state radio-
television entity, and the Baku commandant briefly closed ANS'
FM radio and television stations.  President Aliyev ordered the
resumption of ANS broadcasting.

Correct political connections are a prime requisite for those
seeking new posts in government-controlled institutions,
including universities.  However, there are several professors
with tenure who are active in opposition parties.

     b.  Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association

While the Government tolerates the existence of political
parties, it has demonstrated a disregard for the right to
freedom of peaceful assembly and association when it has deemed
it in its interest to do so.  The authorities have invoked
imminent danger to law and order in carrying out such actions
as the search of APF offices in February, when they allegedly
discovered arms caches.  The authorities frequently denied
opposition requests for permits to hold demonstrations.  When
unauthorized demonstrations were held, police frequently
suppressed them, using force and causing injuries, as in the
May 21 demonstrations against the Government's policy toward
Nagorno-Karabakh and the September 10 protests against both
foreign and domestic policies.  In the May demonstrations,
police detained over 200 persons, including 3 Milli Maclis
deputies, holding some detainees for up to 1 month without
bringing formal charges and without allowing relatives access.

Associations other than political parties can generally
function freely.

     c.  Freedom of Religion

There is no state religion.  Members of all faiths practice
their religions without restrictions, with one important
exception:  Armenian churches, many vandalized in past years,
remain closed, and few of the Armenians left in Azerbaijan
would have felt secure enough to attend them had they been
open.

     d.  Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign
         Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation

The Ministry of National Security enforces a longstanding
restriction zone in the southeast on the Iranian border from
which all nonresidents are excluded.  The October state of
emergency restricts access to the Baku region by nonresidents.

The Government officially recognizes freedom of emigration.
Jewish emigration to Israel continued, although less than 1,000
emigrated during the first 9 months of 1994.  Some 18,000
Armenians and part-Armenians, mostly in mixed marriages, remain
in the country.  The Government stripped many of the remaining
ethnic Armenians of their official documents for both internal
and external travel, making it difficult for them to change
residence or to travel outside Azerbaijan.

In general, low-level officials seeking bribes harass members
of minorities wishing to emigrate; this is especially the case
of draft-age men, who are required to obtain documentation from
several levels of military authorities before they may leave
for any international travel.  All citizens of Azerbaijan
wishing to travel abroad must first obtain exit visas or
official passports from the Government.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) offices in Baku
estimate that, as of November 1994, there were 900,000 refugees
and internally displaced persons in Azerbaijan.  These figures
do not include the 50,000 internally displaced persons caused
by the hostilities in the spring of 1994.  Close to 500,000
fled the Nagorno-Karabakh Armenian offensives into Azeri-
inhabited areas outside the bounds of Nagorno-Karabakh between
March and September 1993, joining the 150,000 who fled in 1992
and the over 200,000 who were expelled from Armenia in 1988-89.

Section 3  Respect for Political Rights:  The Right of Citizens
           to Change Their Government

Citizens do not have the right to change their government by
peaceful means.  Heydar Aliyev assumed presidential powers in
June 1993 after the overthrow of the democratically elected
president, Abulfez Elcibey, and won the presidential election
in October 1993.

In theory, the President shares power with the 52-member Milli
Maclis (National Council) which took over parliamentary powers
after the 1992 dissolution of the Supreme Soviet.  In fact,
President Aliyev and his close supporters dominate government
policy and tolerate little opposition to their views.
Parliamentary elections are due in 1995.

There were no restrictions on women or minorities participating
in politics.  Currently, the Education Minister is the only
woman of ministerial rank.  In the Milli Maclis, there are 3
women out of 52 representatives, or 6 percent.  Minorities such
as Lezghis and Talysh formed regional groupings in Parliament
and published newspapers in their own languages.  There are no
minority parties, and a separatist Talysh leader faces charges
of sedition.  There are two Islamic religious parties.

Section 4  Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
           Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations
           of Human Rights

The local human rights community is composed largely of
individuals rather than well-developed organizations.  Police
have occasionally harassed such individuals.

The Government has expressed willingness to receive delegations
from human rights organizations and has met with such
delegations.  On the other hand, police disrupted a July
meeting between opposition parties and a visiting delegation
from Human Rights Watch/Helsinki.

Section 5  Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion,
           Disability, Language, or Social Status

The 1991 constitutional act of independence prohibits
discrimination based on ethnicity, religion, or gender.

     Women

Women nominally enjoy the same legal rights as men, including
the right to participate in all aspects of political, economic,
and social life.  President Aliyev has appointed women to
senior government positions.  The most active supporters of the
APF after Elcibey's overthrow were the women's groups attached
to it.  In general, women are given extensive opportunities for
education, work, and political activity.  However, traditional
social norms continue to restrict women's role in politics and
the economy.  In general, representation of women is sharply
lower in higher levels of the work force.  Female
representation in executive positions in leading businesses is
even lower--1.5 percent, according to a recent UNICEF study.

Violence against women is a taboo subject in Azerbaijan's
patriarchal society.  In rural areas, wives have no real
recourse against violence by their husbands, regardless of the
law.  Rape is severely punishable, but, especially in rural
areas, only a small fraction of offenses are prosecuted.
Police sources indicate that there are about 200 cases annually
of crimes of violence against women.  These figures probably
reflect underreporting, especially from conservative rural
areas.  Crime levels in this field, as in others, have risen
considerably due to the flood of refugees to the cities and the
economic crisis of the past few years.

     Children

The 1991 constitutional law on independence guarantees children
rights on the same footing as adults.  The Criminal Code
prescribes severe penalties for crimes against children.  The
Government has attempted to shield families against economic
hardship in the wake of price liberalization by authorizing
child subsidies.  The subsidies are far from covering the
shortfall of family budgets, and the Government does not have
the financial means to meet its new commitments.

     National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Both governmental and societal repression and discrimination
against ethnic Armenians continued.  Recently, members of the
Russian community have lodged complaints with the Government as
well as with the Russian Embassy, alleging official inaction
concerning some 108 seizures during the past year of apartments
of Russian speakers by ethnic Azerbaijani displaced persons.

The 18,000 ethnic Armenian and part-Armenians, most of them
members of mixed families, continued to live in an atmosphere
of fear and uncertainty.  Kidnapings of ethnic Armenians from
Baku virtually ceased after early 1994, although scattered
incidents of harassment have been reported in the press.  There
are credible reports of denial of medical treatment to ethnic
Armenians and confiscation of their travel and residence
documents, and most of those Armenians who lost jobs in
previous years are still unemployed.  Many are too frightened
to appear in public.

     People with Disabilities

The law on support for invalids, enacted in late 1993,
prescribes priority for invalids and the handicapped in
obtaining housing, as well as discounts for public transport
and pension supplements.  The Government does not have the
means in its current financial crisis to make good on its
commitments.

Section 6  Worker Rights

     a.  The Right of Association

Azerbaijani labor unions still operate as they did under the
Soviet system and remain highly dependent on the Government.
Such progovernment umbrella organizations as the Azerbaijani
Union of Professional Workers are free to participate in
international bodies.  There is a legal right to strike.
Widespread strikes in the crucial oil sector during the summer
over unpaid back wages led to a backdown of the Government and
an agreement to raise wages.  In general there are no
established mechanisms to avoid such wildcat strikes.  Unions
and workers per se were not the subject of human rights
abuses.

The 1991 constitutional law grants freedom of association,
including the right to form labor unions.  However, most
industrial and white-collar workers are organized into one or
another subbranch of the Azerbaijani Labor Federation
(Profsoyuz), run by the Government (which also still owns the
major industries).  There are no formal restrictions on strikes
nor provisions for retribution against strikers (under normal
conditions before the imposition of a state of emergency in
October).  Unions are free to form federations and to affiliate
with international bodies.

     b.  The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively

Collective bargaining remained at a rudimentary level.
Government-appointed boards and directors run the major
enterprises and set wages.  Unions do not participate in
determining wage levels.  In a carryover from the Soviet
system, both management and workers are considered to be
members of the Profsoyuz.

There are no export processing zones.

     c.  Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor

Forced or compulsory labor is prohibited by law and is not
known to be practiced.  Two departments in the prosecutor's
office (the Department of Implementation of the Labor Code and
the Department for Oversight Over Minors) enforce the
prohibition on forced or compulsory labor.

     d.  Minimum Age for Employment of Children

The minimum employment age is 16 years.  Children of 14 are
allowed to work during vacations with the consent of their
parents and certification of a physician.  Children of 15 may
work if the workplace's labor union does not object.  There is
no explicit restriction on the kinds of work that children aged
15 may perform with union consent.  The Government (Labor
Ministry) has primary enforcement responsibility for child
labor laws.

     e.  Acceptable Conditions of Work

The Government set the nationwide administrative minimum wage
by decree, raising it numerous times because of inflation.  As
of December, it was less than $1.00 (4,000 manats) per month.
The recommended wage level to meet basic subsistence needs was
estimated to be 67,000-75,000 manats, as of November.  It is
not known how effectively the payment of the minimum wage was
enforced.

The disruption of trade links with the rest of the former
Soviet Union has affected employment in many industries.  Idle
factory workers typically receive a third of their former
wage.  Under these conditions, even recourse to the extended
family's "safety net" and outside sources of income make it
difficult for broad sectors of the population to reach the
subsistence level.

The legal workweek is 41 hours.  There is a 1-hour lunch break
per day, plus shorter breaks in the morning and afternoon.

Health and safety standards exist but are by and large ignored
in the workplace.