'We Are Not Discouraged': U.S. Says, Will Continue to Support Civil Society In Azerbaijan, Despite Government Displeasure

The Biden administration's top human rights official Dafna Rand on Tuesday criticized Azerbaijani government's decision to arrest human rights champion Rufat Safarov as he was preparing to travel to the U.S. to receive the Secretary of State's Human Rights Defenders Award.

"It was a message really directed toward us, and towards others who are worried about the human rights trend," Dafna Rand, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, told in an exclusive interview with TURAN when asked about Safarov's arrest.

"The message basically is that the authorities are going to continue this trend, and do not want the United States and other actors to be supporting these defenders and these members of civil society," she said.

Yesterday, hours before Secretary Blinken hosted human rights champions at the State Department, Assistant Secretary Rand spoke with TURAN's correspondent Alex Raufoglu to discuss the current state of human rights in Azerbaijan and Georgia, and the U.S. response.

Question: Madam Assistant Secretary, thank you so much for your time! I wanted to say "Happy International Human Rights Day," but it's not a happy day in Azerbaijan, obviously... For the second day back to back, Secretary Blinken is honoring Azerbaijani awardees — yesterday with regard to corruption day, and today on human rights — in absentia. What does it tell you about the state of human rights in Azerbaijan?

Answer: Well, I guess, we say "Happy Human Rights Day" — we want to honor this day and commemorate it. So sometimes we're very unhappy to talk about some of these issues.

In the case of Azerbaijan, we are, frankly, very worried about the trend lines when it comes to human rights defenders, anti-corruption activists, journalists, and any whistleblower opposition voices in the country. Both yesterday and today, as you mentioned, the Secretary Blinken's awardees from Azerbaijan — which was supposed to be such a great day for Azerbaijan, a real honor to uniquely give attention to these great individuals, a woman yesterday, and Mr. Safarov today — we were not able to greet them here in Washington, DC. We were not able to hand them this award in person, because the authorities in Azerbaijan have arrested each one. My understanding is that the anti-corruption activist was arrested some time ago, and has been unjustly detained. And just last week, as you know, Mr. Rufat was arrested and detained.

So, we're very worried about the trend, and we really missed these individuals. We wanted to celebrate them. We wanted to tell the world how great their work was. And again, we will do that anyway, but we wish we could have done it with them here.

Question: This is also a year that we don't really have much human rights victory in Azerbaijan.  As you know, the number of reporters who got jailed doubled down since last year. And in the case of Safarov, the government decided to arrest him days before he was supposed to fly to the U.S. What kind of message do you think they are conveying here to the United States?

Answer: You know, this is a very strong message, and it was heard. It was a message really directed toward us, and towards others who are worried about the human rights trend.

The message basically is that the authorities are going to continue this trend, and do not want the United States and other actors to be supporting these defenders and these members of civil society. So, the message was heard loud and clear. And, frankly, here at the State Department and in the U.S. Congress, where Mr. Safarov was supposed to go this afternoon, it was heard loud and clear.

And I would call attention to the fact that there were statements in support of both awardees, but certainly Mr. Safarov, and criticizing his detention from senior members of Congress from both parties.

Question: Critics would also say that although the Biden Administration promised to prioritize human rights over other interests, in the case of Azerbaijan, that was not necessarily the case, because we did have a number of phone calls and meetings that did prioritize security, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, but not necessarily being out loud, when it comes to human rights. Do you subscribe to all those criticisms?

Answer: I'm really proud of this [State Department] team. We focused on the human rights situation in Azerbaijan, we have a fantastic ambassador, Mark Libby, who has made this a priority in his time in Baku.

Today, we are giving an award to a U.S. human rights officer from Baku, who finished his service, who really focused on this issue. And certainly, around the events of COP, the plight of human rights defenders and journalists, whistleblowers, lawyers, everyone in jail was elevated.

So if anything, we have tried to call global attention to the situation in Azerbaijan. And that is the first step in making a difference in calling international attention to the situation.

Question: Are you running out of tools in your toolkit, when it comes to moving the needle?

Answer: No. We will continue to double down on our tools. We will continue to use diplomacy — private diplomacy, public diplomacy, like the event today, which will be very public, we will continue to use some of our punitive tools, such as our visa sanction programs and other programs we have used.

And most importantly, we'll continue to support the civil society actors, that is our best tool. If we can send the signal that the brave men and women of Azerbaijan who will not be silenced, who will stand up and try to do what's best for their country, will have a friend in the United States government and support. That is our best tool, and we will continue that. We are not discouraged.

Question: When it comes to sanctions, are there any Azerbaijani high level, senior officials — beyond those we have seen named a couple of years ago — that are currently under visa sanctions?

Answer: I have nothing to report on sanctions. I'll just refer you back to previous sanctions.

Question: Is Aliyev acting with impunity?

Answer: You know, this is about a situation where it's the people of Azerbaijan who are really suffering from Aliyev's decisions and the government's decisions. And again, we support the people of Azerbaijan.

We have a long history of relationships, and good relationships with people coming back and forth, and students and business and trade. And we want to support democratic open society in Azerbaijan.

We fundamentally believe that our partnership will be stronger and richer, and there will be more prosperity on both sides of the relationship if we get towards a different place on the democratic issues and on democracy and human rights and Azerbaijan.

Question: I want to move to Georgia, if you don't mind, because a lots of things have happened in that country since the last sanctions package was announced. You just started off [your mandate] in August, and recently you also got appointed  — the presidential appointment — to serve as a Helsinki Commissioner. That very Commission has urged this State Department to put out sanctions and to directly target the man behind everything going on in Georgia, which is unfortunately, as far as I know, not the case so far. Why?

Answer: So let's move back and step back: There have been worrisome signs for many, many months in Georgia in terms of intentions regarding the quality of these elections on October 26. And we saw really concerning signs, including the promulgation of the Foreign Agents law, which was really intended to crack down on civil society. So even before election day, we were concerned, and we were working with the authorities to signal our concern about the ability of Georgians to vote freely and fairly.

And most importantly, we follow the desires of the Georgian people. The Georgian people have said loud and clear that their aspirations are to join the EU. And the United States government supports the desires of the Georgian people. There have been sanctions in the past towards George and we are still considering further measures.

Question:  I know you don't want to preview the sanctions. But I wanted to ask about the sanctions that have not been announced yet, which is, about targeting Mr. Ivanishvili. Is there anything that is preventing the United States from taking that action?

Answer: It is under discussion at the very highest levels, and everyone from President Biden to Secretary Blinken on down is watching what is happening in Georgia with great alarm.

Question:  My final question on this: do you recognize the GD government as a legitimate government in Georgia?

Answer:  We work with the government of Georgia. This is a system where we work with. You know, we work all around the world with governments and individuals with whom we don't agree and where we have deep concerns on how they got to power.

So I'll just say that, as we work with the [Georgian Dream] Party to go back on the right path toward democracy, to reform some of the electoral institutions and practices, to draw back the foreign agent laws, as I mentioned, to make there more space for civil — as there was in Georgia, there's a rich history of this in Georgia, so this is an aberration, this is an anomaly what we're seeing — to go back to the aspirations of what the Georgian people wanted, that is our mission right now.