Feedback During a dialogue with the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on August 15-16, 2022, the state delegation submitting Azerbaijan’s periodic report on the implementation of the Convention reported that the country is preparing to adopt a law on the prevention and elimination of racial discrimination.
During the session, the experts of the Committee raised questions about the situation of ethnic minorities. A significant number of these questions were devoted to the situation of the Armenian population in the Nagorno-Karabakh region and the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia in general (most of the alternative NGO reports touched on this problem).
In addition, experts expressed concern about the lack of transparency in data on the ethnic composition of the country’s population; low representation of ethnic minorities in government and public administration; violations of linguistic rights and the exclusion of the languages of a number of ethnic minorities from the school curriculums, book publishing sphere, and the media; devaluing the role of ethnic minorities in the history and culture of the country and rewriting history; political repression against the Talysh; structural discrimination of Roma and Dom groups and the lack of positive measures for the integration of these groups; persecution of human rights activists and members of political opposition.
Based on the results of consideration of the state report and dialogue with the government delegation at the 107th session, the Committee addresses its recommendations to Azerbaijan.