International organizations have frequently alleged that Azerbaijan has violated human rights standards established in international law.
Human Rights Watch issued a 2013 report accusing Azerbaijan of imprisoning and harassing political activists and human rights defenders. In 2019, Human Rights Watch called the situation of human rights in Azerbaijan "appalling", citing "rigid control" by the government, "severely curtailing freedoms of association, expression, and assembly", as well as "torture and ill-treatment" of journalists, lawyers, and opposition activists. According to Reporters without Borders, Azerbaijan ranks 167 of 180 countries on the Press Freedom Index. A 2020 report by the U.S. State Department accused Azerbaijan of a wide variety of human rights abuses, including "unlawful or arbitrary killing", "heavy restrictions on free expression, the press, and the internet", and "the worst forms of child labor". A 2022 human rights review of Azerbaijan by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination found that during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabagh Conflict, the Azerbaijani military committed "severe and grave human rights violations ... against prisoners of war and other protected persons of Armenian ethnic or national origin, including extrajudicial killings, torture and other ill-treatment and arbitrary detention as well as the destruction of houses, schools, and other civilian facilities".
Constitutional protections The Constitution of Azerbaijan contains 48 Articles regarding principal human and civil rights. Section 3 of the Constitution establishes the major rights and freedoms of citizens of Azerbaijan, including human rights, property rights, equality rights, intellectual property rights, civil rights, the rights of the accused, the right to strike, social security, the right to vote and freedom of speech, conscience and thought.
On 28 December 2001, the National Assembly of the Republic of Azerbaijan adopted the Constitutional Law on the Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and on 5 March 2002, the President signed a Decree on the application of this Law thus creation and functioning of the legal framework for the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Ethnic cleansing The country is accused of ethnic cleansing, in 2023 having used a blockade of the Lachin corridor and a land invasion to induce the evacuation of the Armenian population out of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Rights of minorities In the context of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, hate speech against Armenians "continues to be a staple of officially sanctioned media" according to Minority Rights Group International, while "peace-building initiatives involving civil society actors are regularly vilified and sometimes result in physical assaults on the property and persons of those involved".
The Lezgin people face discrimination and "feel forced to assimilate into Azeri identity to avoid economic and education discrimination".
Talysh people have "suffered as a result of the long-term deprivation of cultural and educational rights and from the effects of economic neglect of their region". In the aftermath of the Talysh separatist movement and the attempt to establish the Talysh-Mughan Autonomous Republic the Azerbaijani state "mounted a campaign of intimidation and repression against leading Talysh activists".
Freedom of religion
Freedom of religion in Azerbaijan is substantially curtailed.Freedom House website, Retrieved 2023-08-01 The Azerbaijan government, which follows a strictly secular and anti-religious ideology, represses all religions.
The majority of the population in Azerbaijan is Muslim. According to Michigan State University political scientist Ani Sarkissian, "the Azerbaijani government attempts to control religious practice to keep it from becoming an independent social force that might threaten the nondemocratic nature of the regime."
The government censors religious literature and closes down religious institutions that it considers objectionable. Political speech by religious institutions is forbidden and clerics are not allowed to run for political office.
The government uses mosque closures to repress independent Muslim groups that act independently of the state. Clerics that act in ways objectionable to the state face dismissal and arrest. The government does not restrict religious conversion, but it does forbid proselytizing.
In September 2026, a video circulated online alleging that the hijab had been banned in Azerbaijani schools. The footage shows girls wearing the hijab being prevented from entering middle school.
Effect of international treaties
One of the initial international documents in the human rights field was the Memorandum of Understanding that was signed between the Government of Azerbaijan and the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights on 26 November 1998.
The Council of Europe admitted Azerbaijan to the full-membership on 25 January 2001. Azerbaijan ratified the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR) on 15 April 2002. Since the ratification, everyone who claims to be the victim of a violation of his/(her) rights or liberties defined by ECHR as a result of the activity or inactivity of the Republic of Azerbaijan has right to sue against Azerbaijan before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). , Azerbaijan has the lowest rate of compliance of any Council of Europe member state with implementing leading judgements of the ECtHR from the last 10 years. Leading judgements are a subset of cases involving serious or systemic human rights violations and only 4% of such cases against Azerbaijan led to a rectification of the underlying human rights violation. Overall 47 leading ECtHR judgments against Azerbaijan have not been implemented.
Azerbaijan became a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2006.
Several independent bodies, such as Human Rights Watch, have repeatedly criticized the Azerbaijani government for its human rights record. Among other concerns, authorities have been accused of arbitrary arrests, indefinite detentions, severe beatings, torture, and forced disappearances. Despite the existence of independent news outlets, journalists who criticize the government are often severely harassed, imprisoned, and even physically assaulted. In the 2013-14 Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders, Azerbaijan ranked 160th out of an overall total of 180 nations. The Government has often been criticized for failing to improve the situation of civil liberties. Public demonstrations against the ruling regime are not tolerated, and authorities often use violence to disperse protests.
Electoral rights Azerbaijan was the first country in the East that provided women with the right to vote. According to the Law passed in the parliament, on 21 July 1919, Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR) all citizens of the Republic who had reached the age of 20 were granted voting rights before the UK (1928), Spain, and Portugal (1931).
All citizens of Azerbaijan have the right to elect and be elected, and to participate in referendums. The Parliament of Azerbaijan adopted the Electoral Code on 27 May 2003. Although Azerbaijan is nominally a secular and representative democracy, recent elections there have widely been contested as fraudulent and 'seriously flawed. Azerbaijani media coverage of the election is considered to be overwhelmingly biased in favor of the administration. Also, former president Heidar Aliyev, is known to have filled the Central and Local electoral commissions with government supporters prior to various key elections since 2003. Irregular incidents such as voting chiefs running off with the ballots, ballot stuffing, multiple voting, and vote tampering were recorded by international monitors.
Azerbaijan has been harshly criticized for bribing members and officials from international organizations to legitimize the fraudulent elections, a practice which has been termed as "caviar diplomacy". Recently this has been the case with MEPs of the European Parliament, whose positive assessment of Azerbaijani elections sparked a major scandal in Europe.European MPs' praise for Azerbaijan election sparks row BBC News, 17 October 2013MEPs' shameful support for the Azerbaijan election MEPs' shameful support for the Azerbaijan election, EU ObserverAndreas Gross: Azerbaijan with regressing democracy is patient placed in reanimation ward at Council of Europe Panorama, 25 October 2013 European Stability Initiative (ESI) think tank has published a series of detailed reports exposing the vested interest of the observation missions participating in Azerbaijani elections.Caviar Diplomacy. How Azerbaijan silenced the Council of Europe was published on 24 May 2012
Freedom of assembly and expression of political beliefs Up until May 2005, there was no legal protection for freedom of assembly in Azerbaijan. The blanket ban on opposition gatherings was lifted by presidential decree after national pressure, but events leading up to parliamentary elections later that year proved this to be merely a nominal change for a very short time. The authorities denied opposition supporters the right to demonstrate or hold rallies in or near any city centers and special places were designated for this purpose. Those attending opposition rallies that had not been sanctioned by the government were beaten and arrested. Police were known to detain opposition activists, in an attempt to 'convince' them into giving up their political work. Youth movement members and opposition members were detained for conspiring to overthrow the government, a charge that has not been substantiated. After the elections, not a single opposition rally was allowed.
According to the Human Rights Watch 2013 report, "Azerbaijan’s record on freedom of expression, assembly, and the association has been on a steady decline for some years, but it has seen a dramatic deterioration since mid-2012". In April 2014 RPT-European human rights organization reported that human rights, particularly freedom of expression, assembly and association, are deteriorating in Azerbaijan.
In a screed delivered on 15 July 2020, the day after a pro-military rally in Baku, President Aliyev targeted the largest opposition party, the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan. He declared that "we need to finish with the 'fifth column'" and the Popular Front is "worse than the Armenians." Azerbaijani security services began arresting party members and others. According to Azerbaijani sources as many as 120 people are currently held in jail, including some deputy leaders of the party as well as journalists. On 20 July the U.S. State Department urged Azerbaijan to avoid using the pandemic to silence "civil society advocacy, opposition voices, or public discussion."Azerbaijan’s president aims to finish off the political opposition, Editorial Board, Washington Post, 29/07/20 These actions are widely seen as an attempt "to eliminate pro-democracy advocates and political rivals once and for all".Azerbaijan's Despotic Ruler Throws 'Tantrum' In Unprecedented Crackdown On Pro-Democracy Rivals, RFE/RL, By Ron Synovitz, 30 July 2020 The Amnesty International also urged to end the "violent persecution of opposition activists".Заявление. Азербайджан: Жестокое преследование активистов-оппозиционеров должно прекратиться, Amnesty International, 13 August 2020 In 2025, there were 375 political prisoners in Azerbaijan.
Right to liberty and security