Dunja Mijatovic, the Council of Europe (CoE) Commissioner for Human Rights, expressed concern about the human rights situation in Azerbaijan, in an interview with VOA. She called the ongoing pressures and persecutions against journalists, human rights advocates, and civil society representatives in Azerbaijan unacceptable.

Mijatovic, who previously held the position of OSCE representative on media freedom, has visited Azerbaijan many times. She noted that since then there have been no positive changes in the country regarding freedom of speech and media, the respective restrictive environment is maintained, and the new law on media introduces more censorship and restrictions.

The CoE Commissioner added that she continues to follow the situation related to human rights in Azerbaijan and raise issues related to the arrests of human rights advocates and journalists in the country.

Mijatovic said she has repeatedly expressed her concerns very openly to the government of Azerbaijan, hoping that there will be some solutions. Unfortunately, this did not happen, added the commissioner.

The CoE Commissioner said that another matter she is following closely is the tripartite statement signed in November 2020 by the leaders of Armenia, Russia, and Azerbaijan. Mijatovic said that at that time, she immediately contacted Baku and Yerevan to help with human rights issues.

Mijatovic added that since then, she has worked hard to visit Nagorno-Karabakh, she proposed to draw the attention of the Azerbaijani authorities and even go together. The CoE Commissioner said she knows that this is a very sensitive issue from a political point of view, she recognize the sovereignty of Azerbaijan, she has always said about this, but, nonetheless, her visit to Nagorno-Karabakh has not yet taken place.

Mijatovic said she does not see any real political will on the part of the Azerbaijani authorities to improve the state of media freedom in the country.

If the Azerbaijani government wants to be part of the international community, it should value democracy, human rights, and the rule of law, concluded Dunja Mijatovic.