Azerbaijan, Baku, 12 March / corr. Trend K. Ramazanova/ The US ambassador to Azerbaijan Anne Derse is sorry about the fact that the annual report of State Department does not indicate a significant improvement in the overall human rights environment in Azerbaijan.
According to him, the report includes important issues for the United States such as media freedom, freedom of assembly and political participation in this election year. Addressing some of these key areas of concern - media freedom, freedom of assembly and political participation in the pre-election period will be very critical for conducting free and fair elections, the Ambassador said.
"Citizens in a democracy must a have a right to assemble freely, peacefully and express their political views," the Ambassador said.
Derse also said that the strategic choice of Azerbaijan is for freedom, democracy and Euro-Atlantic integration, and this report will be taken as a constructive criticism. According to the Ambassador, the defense of human rights and democracy requires constant vigilance and constant effort by the governments and society.
The US State Department released its annual report on Human Rights around the world for 2007.