Alliance Azerbaijan without Political Prisoners Does Not Trust the Working Group on Human Rights

The Alliance Azerbaijan without Political Prisoners criticized the activities of the newly re-established Working Group on Human Rights.

In a statement, the alliance said that "the Working Group formed in secret from the public, the formation of the group did not take place transparently or fairly.

Goals and objectives, status and working principle of this structure are not clear, anyway, as the election procedure in the Working Group.

The format and principles of this group, created to address the problem of political prisoners, are not really adequate to address the problem of political prisoners.

The Working Group is composed mainly of representatives of the authorities and pro-government parties, who deny the existence of political prisoners in the country problem," the statement reads.

The document further stated that the approval by the authorities to begin a dialogue with civil society, in fact, is a dialogue with the authorities themselves.

"Therefore, representatives of independent civil society and political prisoners do not trust the Working Group, as it does not include a person actually engaged in human rights and political prisoners."

Invitation to the Working Group of the journalist Khadija Ismailova, and then refusal of such participation, says that the group does not want to hear a second opinion.

"In fact, the creation of a formal Working Group aims to protect the power from the external and internal criticism and to gain time and create an impression of the protection of human rights in the country.

The Alliance Azerbaijan without Political Prisoners calls on the authorities to abandon this flawed policy and take immediate steps for real protection of human rights, and to address the political prisoners, the statement said. -16D-