ECHR to Consider Complaints about Refusal to Grant Azerbaijani Citizenship

Baku / 14.05.18 / Turan: The European Court of Human Rights started communication on complaints about refusal to grant Azerbaijani citizenship to seven children born in Azerbaijan, whose parents are foreigners. All of them are united under the name Hashemi and Others Against Azerbaijan.

The interests of the applicants in the ECHR are represented by Asima Nasirli. According to her, the complaints raise the issue of violation of the applicants' rights under Article 8 (right to privacy) of the European Convention.

Until 2014, all children born in Azerbaijan could automatically obtain citizenship of the country. After this period, the legislation was changed and the granting of citizenship is limited. However, the new rules were applied in relation to children born before 2014 and they were not accepted for citizenship.

This put a significant number of children living in Azerbaijan for a long time in the "statelessness" position. Therefore, the adoption of this case by the ECHR for proceedings will fundamentally affect the situation of stateless persons and especially the children of Azerbaijanis from Georgia, who were born in Azerbaijan, the lawyer said.

In May 2014, the Azerbaijani citizenship law was amended, according to which, if both of the parents of children born in Azerbaijan are foreigners, the children are not considered citizens of Azerbaijan. If one of the parents is a citizen of Azerbaijan, then the child is recognized as a citizen of the country. If both parents are stateless, the child is also recognized as a citizen of Azerbaijan. -03B-