COP29
There can be no climate justice without justice against repression: as international delegates prepare to participate in COP29 in Baku, we call upon them to engage to end repression in Azerbaijan, starting with the release of political prisoners.
We participate to the COP29 Climate Justice Coalition, which aims to bring together individuals and organizations to amplify the power of collective actions in the lead-up to and during COP29 to fight for climate justice and system change.
Azerbaijan will host the 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Baku in November 2024.
Anar Mammadli’s detention comes amidst a climate of increased repression ahead of COP29. Azerbaijani human rights defenders have documented that over 303 people are currently detained arbitrarily in Azerbaijan.
Repression – and politically motivated detention – are at the heart of all these human rights and environmental issues: it is clear that there can be no climate justice without justice against repression.
Abroad, Azerbaijan has been promoting itself to the world, calling upon the West to “Take Another Look” at Azerbaijan. The Anar Mammadli Campaign aims to provide a true perspective of the deteriorating situation for human rights and political prisoners in Azerbaijan – all of it made possible by Azerbaijan’s extensive oil and gas revenues, at a time in which Azerbaijan is embellishing its environmental and climate record to justify hosting COP29.
Political prisoners recorded in September 2024
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The number of political prisoners has surged by 243% over the past 19 months, increasing from 93 individuals in February 2023 to 319 in September 2024.
Demand Rights at COP is an informal network of civil society organisations, in which we play an active role, working to ensure that Azerbaijan upholds its international obligations pertaining to human rights and climate justice
We appeal to COP29 participating states to call upon the Azerbaijani government to:
- Release Anar Mammadli and other human rights defenders, political and civil activists, environmental activists, lawyers and journalists whose arrests are politically motivated.
- Repeal in whole the legislation designed to target human rights defenders and civil society and criminalise their activities.
- Live up to its commitments under the Paris Agreement and stop Azerbaijan’s greenwashing.
Days Until COP29: A Call for Climate Justice and Human Rights
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Updates on COP29:
- Joint civil society stataement demanding attention to human rights and climate justice ahead of COP29, 11 September 2024 / View statement
- Joint civil society statement on the one-year mark of the detention of Gubad Ibadoghlu, 23 July 2024 / View the statement
- Amnesty International call for the COP29 host country agreement to be made public, 4 July 2024 / Read the document
- Amnesty International public statement on the human rights situation in Azerbaijan ahead of COP29, 11 June 2024 / View the statement
- “Rights and wrongs ahead of Baku’s Cop29 hosting”, article in Geneva Solutions, 7 July 2024 / Read the article
- Joint civil society statement ahead of the Bonn preparatory conference to COP29, 3 June 2024 / View the statement
- HRW briefer ahead of Bonn preparatory conference, 31 May 2024 / Read the briefer