USCIRF: Azerbaijani government continued to exert undue control and  oversight over all religious communities and their activities

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