Resolution on the situation in Azerbaijan, violation of human rights and international law and relations with Armenia

The European Parliament adopted by 453 votes to 31, with 89 abstentions, a resolution on the situation in Azerbaijan, violation of human rights and international law and relations with Armenia.

The text adopted in plenary was tabled by the EPP, S&D, ECR, Renew and Greens/EFA groups.

For more than a decade and with increasing determination, Azerbaijani authorities have been reducing space for civil society, arbitrarily closing down non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and arresting or forcing into exile civil society representatives. In recent years, the Azerbaijani authorities have imposed increasingly stringent restrictions on civil society organisations and activists, journalists, political opponents and others have been imprisoned on fabricated and politically motivated charges.

Parliament strongly condemned the domestic and extraterritorial repression by the Azerbaijani regime against activists, journalists, opposition leaders and others, including EU nationals, which has noticeably intensified ahead of COP29. The Azerbaijani authorities are urged to release all persons arbitrarily detained or imprisoned on account of their political views, to drop all politically motivated charges and to cease all forms of repression, both within and beyond Azerbaijan.

Considering that Azerbaijan’s ongoing human rights abuses are incompatible with its hosting of COP29, EU leaders, in particular Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, are urged to use COP29 as an opportunity to remind Azerbaijan of its international obligations and to meaningfully address the country’s human rights record in their interactions with the Azerbaijani authorities, including by calling for the unconditional release of all persons arbitrarily detained or imprisoned on account of their political views and by requesting to meet with political prisoners while in the country. Parliament called on the EU and its Member States to do their utmost to ensure that United Nations Climate Change conferences are not hosted in countries with poor human rights records.

Members reiterated their call for EU sanctions to be imposed under the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime on Azerbaijani officials who have committed serious human rights violations. They insisted that any future partnership agreement between the EU and Azerbaijan be made conditional on the release of all political prisoners, the implementation of legal reforms and the overall improvement of the human rights situation in the country. Parliament also called on the EU to end its reliance on gas exports from Azerbaijan.

Parliament supports all initiatives and activities that could lead to the establishment of peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the signing of a long-awaited peace agreement. It reiterated its call for the EU institutions and the Member States to continue to offer assistance to Armenia to deal with the refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh and called for the EU, in this regard, to provide a new package of assistance to Armenia to help the Armenian Government address the humanitarian needs of refugees.

Lastly, Parliament also condemned Azerbaijan’s repeated attempts to denigrate and destabilise Member States and the arbitrary arrests of EU citizens based on spurious accusations of espionage and their disproportionate sentencing.