USCIRF: Religious freedom in Azerbaijan remains severely impeded by problematic legislation

The U.S. religious freedom body USCIRF urges the Azerbaijani government to amend the 2009 law "On Freedom of Religious Beliefs" to bring it into conformity with international standards.

The bipartisan commission, created in 1998 to make policy recommendations to the U.S. President, Secretary of State and Congress about global religious freedom, has recommended last year that the Department of State place Azerbaijan on its Special Watch List for its ongoing and systematic religious freedom violations.

USCIRF on Thursday released a country update on religious freedom conditions in Azerbaijan, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

While the authors welcomed news coinciding with the release of this report that Azerbaijan pardoned and will release a number of political prisoners, including as many as 31 religious activists, it also mentioned that religious freedom in the country "remains severely impeded by problematic legislation, particularly the country's 2009 law "On Freedom of Religious Beliefs," which the government has shown little interest in revising."

The latest country update also details the many obstacles posed by mandatory registration and other restrictions on religious communities, the continued imprisonment of religious activists, and recent violations committed in the context of the renewed conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.

More about the USCIRF report can be found here.

Alex Raufoglu

Washington D.C.