Working group to respond Yagland
The Council of Europe(CE) declared its withdrawal from the joint working group on human rights with Azerbaijan.
The declaration reads: “Secretary General of the Council of Europe Torbern Yagland informed Cabinet of Ministers of the Council of Europe about withdrawal from the joint working group on human rights with Azerbaijan.”
Since October 2014, says the official statement, a Council of Europe representative had been attending meetings in Baku intended to revive the dialogue between civil society and Azerbaijani authorities. Despite this initiative, the overall situation of human rights defenders in the country has deteriorated dramatically. An increasing number of human right defenders has recently been imprisoned, and the Council of Europe has received worrying reports about unacceptable detention conditions. Prior to his intervention at the Committee of Ministers, the Secretary General had informed Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev of his decision.