Ombudsperson deems unacceptable US inclusion of tolerant Azerbaijan to religious freedom blacklist

Azerbaijan’s Human Rights Commissioner (Ombudsperson) Sabina Aliyeva has issued a statement on the special report published by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom on Azerbaijan in 2023 and the inclusion of Azerbaijan in a certain "special watch list" of the US State Department.

Aliyeva noted that historically in Azerbaijan, people belonging to different religions lived in peaceful and friendly conditions. Besides, multiculturalism and tolerance recently started to be implemented at the level of state policy, and several measures promoting inter-religious dialogue were implemented in the country. Under Article 25 of the Constitution, it is prohibited to restrict human and civil rights and freedoms on grounds of race, religion, language, sex, origin, creed, ethnicity, political or social affiliation.

“It is not by chance that Azerbaijan is among the most religiously tolerant states in the world, where an exemplary model of multiculturalism and interreligious dialogue has been formed, and there are no such cases as anti-Semitism or religious discrimination. In our country, along with mosques, Catholic and Orthodox churches, including the Armenian Church, and Jewish synagogues function as places of worship for believers.

Clear indicators of this fact are the creation of conditions for people to freely exercise their religious beliefs, the high level of ensuring the right to freedom of conscience, and the almost complete absence of complaints to the Ombudsperson on this issue.

In this regard, in the annual report on the state of religious freedoms in the countries of the world prepared by the US Department of State, we consider it biased to mention Azerbaijan among the countries where religious freedom is violated.

We reiterate that the information contained in this report about our country has no basis in fact; we believe it is important to conduct a responsible, realistic and fact-based analysis, without double standards in the preparation of such documents.

At the same time, contrary to what was noted in the report, it is Azerbaijan that for many years suffered from the policy of occupation, ethnic cleansing of Armenia, mass destruction of religious and historical monuments belonging to our people. Including mosques, places of worship, falsification of religious monuments, on lands that have been under occupation for almost 30 years, including now in the territory of Armenia, we would like to once again remind the attention of the compilers of this document that numerous cemeteries belonging to Azerbaijanis have been destroyed and desecrated.

The above facts give grounds to say that behind the report prepared by the US State Department there is a biased policy aimed at creating a negative opinion of our country in the world community.

The ombudsperson of Azerbaijan constantly draws attention to ensuring equal opportunities for all, irrespective of religion, language, race and other characteristics. At the same time, we base our activities on the principle of "No one should lag behind" reflected in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the concept of uniting efforts of all for the sake of further strengthening the existing stability in the country, multicultural and tolerant environment, friendly and brotherly relations between local peoples.

As the ombudsperson of Azerbaijan, I would like to emphasise once again that the publication of such groundless and biased reports and statements of the Commission on International Religious Freedom is unacceptable," the statement reads.