BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 21. The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) of the Council of Europe (CoE) has prepared a new report on Azerbaijan within the 6th cycle of monitoring, Trend reports.
In the document, ECRI emphasized that over the past period since 2016 when the previous report was compiled, positive changes have been made in Azerbaijan in relevant areas.
Besides, in the report, ECRI expressed a sympathetic attitude to the sufferings of Azerbaijan's population, including numerous internally displaced persons, from long-year conflicts and clashes.
In the report, ECRI also stated that since 2020, human rights topics in the field of inclusive education have been included in the curriculum, and practical changes have been made to the legislation in order to prevent racist speech and hatred on the internet.
According to the report, thanks to the work carried out by the authorities on the legal status of migrants, in 2021 the number of persons with an illegal status was reduced by 10 percent, the access of migrants to public services was facilitated, and the issuance of work and residence permits to migrants was accelerated.
In the report, ECRI also informed about the provision of labor migrants in Azerbaijan with equal rights to social protection with the Azerbaijani citizens, as well as access of refugees to the labor market.
ECRI also emphasized that multiculturalism and tolerance are an integral part of Azerbaijani society.
Meanwhile, in the latest ECRI report on Armenia, it was noted that incidents related to inciting hatred, including calls for violence periodically take place in the political and public life of the country. In particular, as an example of hate speech, the 'Azerbaijani' and 'Turk' expressions were used in Armenia to smear political opponents in order to stir up internal divisions and obstruct peace negotiations.
At the same time, ECRI emphasized that the Azerbaijani community no longer exists in Armenia, and the number of Turks living or visiting the country is unknown.
In the report, ECRI reminded the importance of the statement on preventing ultra-nationalist and racist speech and combating violence in relation to clashes and unresolved conflicts in Europe, as well as following the relevant recommendations of the UN Commissioner for Human Rights.
Among the two intermediate and 15 main recommendations given by ECRI to Armenia, special attention was paid to work conducted by the country's leadership in the field of raising awareness about the importance of diversity and tolerance in society, ensuring strong feedback through political, public, religious figures and influential persons on inciting hatred, establishing appropriate rules of conduct for elected bodies and political parties, as well as eliminating discrimination based on ethnicity and religion in education through reforms, and others.
ECRI is the Council of Europe’s independent human rights monitoring body specializing in combating antisemitism, discrimination, racism, religious intolerance, and xenophobia. It publishes periodic reports on CoE member states and general policy recommendations. The decision to find ECRI was adopted in 1993. The organization became officially active in March 1994.
It consists of 47 experts, one from every CoE member state. The chair of the commission is Maria Daniella Marouda from Greece, since 2020.