Call to UNESCO about Mehriban Aliyeva

The new European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) calls on UNESCO to dismiss its Goodwill Ambassador Mehriban Aliyeva immediately. The wife of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev is part of the top power circles of Azerbaijan, a country where journalists get detained as Khadija Ismayilova, others get even murdered.

 The ECPMF sees Mehriban Aliyevas UNESCO position as an insult of European values, as enshrined in the European Charter on Freedom of the Press. It is demanded from Ms. Bokova, the Director-General of UNESCO, to dismiss Mehriban Aliyeva.

With this step the Director-General may instantly suit her action to the words of her latest call: On the  occasion of the “International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists“ (2  November 2015) Miss Bokova asks to “redouble efforts to end impunity for attacks on journalists”

The letter to  Ms. Bokova reads:

The new European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) is concerned about the disappearance of journalist Khadija Ismayilova and how journalists are generally treated in Azerbaijan.

The fact that Mrs Mehriban Aliyeva, the wife of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, works as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNESCO, we perceive as frightening and as utterly unacceptable. That an UN organisation dealing with media freedom has nominated a Goodwill Ambassador from the top elite of Azerbaijan, a country where journalists are imprisoned and murdered and where freedom of the press is ignored in the strongest manner, is totally unacceptable. And the UNESCO adds another insult on its website: There is stated that Mrs Aliyeva is committed to the UNESCO ideals.

Dear Ms Bokova, please look at the rankings of Reporters without Borders and Freedom House. We urge UNESCO also to acknowledge the European Charter on Freedom of the Press, our pan-European document, on European media freedom standards. – Azerbaijan ignores these standards extensively.

We hope that the UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Mrs Aliyeva will be dismissed and we expect from the Director-General to initiate the dismissal without delay.
Should you need detailed information on the state of press freedom in Azerbaijan and in the case of Ms Ismayilova - this case must be of UNESCO interest - you can contact us: www.ecpmf.eu.

Yours sincerely

Henrik Kaufholz (Chairman)

Hans-Ulrich Jörges (Vice Chairman)

Dr. Lutz Mükke (Managing Director)