US religious freedom commission sharply criticizes Azerbaijan

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has released its annual report on abuses to religious freedom worldwide on Tuesday, April 30.

The 364-page report takes a new two-tier approach at the worst religious freedom offenders, detailing the plight of persecuted religious peoples around the globe.

Azerbaijan has been placed on Tier 2 for the first time in 2013, TURAN's Washington DC correspondent reports.

The report criticized Baku on a number of issues, including accepting repressive religion law adopted in 2009 that curtails a range of religious activities.

Despite official claims of tolerance, religious freedom conditions in Azerbaijan "have deteriorated over the past few years," reads the reports. "Religious organizations were closed and people's non-violent religious activity has been punished with detentions, fines and other penalties."

Muslims are subject to additional restrictions: all Muslim religious leaders are appointed by the state - backed Caucasus Muslim Board and must be Azeri citizens educated in Azerbaijan; all mosques must belong to the Caucasus Muslim Board; and only Azeri citizens can establish Islamic religious communities.

Under a 2008 government order, prayer is not allowed outside of mosques, and police have enforced this ban. The Ministry of Education introduced a school uniform in 2010, resulting in a campaign against the Islamic headscarf ban; there were 72 arrests in October 2012. After the reporting period, the headscarf ban was extended to Azeri university students.

The Tier 2 category replaces the Watch List designation the USCIRF previously used. Besides Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Cuba, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Laos and Russia are also in this category.

Last week the USCIRF chair Katrina Lantos Swett sent a letter to the Secretary of State Kerry to urge the administration to raise questions about violations of religious freedom and related human rights in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Russia, Azerbaijan, and Bangladesh in front of the UN.

Among the recommendations for US Policy in order to promote freedom of religion or belief in Azerbaijan, are pressuring Baku to allow religious groups to operate freely without registration;

-- Encourage public scrutiny of Azerbaijan's record on religious freedom and related human rights in appropriate international fora, such as the UN, OSCE and other multilateral venues, and highlight cases of prosecution of Azeri citizens that violate these international norms in comments at such fora;  

-- Urge the Azeri government to agree to visits by UN Special Rapporteurs on Freedom of Religion or Belief, the Independence of the Judiciary, and Torture, set specific visit dates, and provide the full and necessary conditions for such a visit;

-- Ensure that the US Embassy in Baku maintains active contacts with Azeri human rights activists and press the Azeri government to ensure that every prisoner has greater access to his or her family, human rights monitors, adequate medical care, and a lawyer, as specified in international human rights instruments;

-- Specify freedom of religion as a grants category and area of activity in the Democracy and Conflict Mitigation program of the USAID and other programs;

-- and Increase radio, Internet, and other broadcasting, particularly in the Azeri language, of objective news and information on relevant issues, including specific religious freedom concerns in the country and explaining why religious freedom is an important element of US foreign policy.