Tag: Climate Change

As the UN Climate Summit (COP29) is set to be held in Baku starting on November 11, it is becoming increasingly clear that Azerbaijan should not have been allowed to host such a prestigious gathering. In addition to Armenian protests about ethnic cleansing and the illegal detention of Armenian prisoners in Baku, there have been worldwide objections about the Conference being held in Baku because of Azerbaijan’s flagrant and persistent violations of human rights.

On October 10, Human Rights Watch (HRW) published an article titled, “COP29 Host Country Agreement Lacks Rights Protections: Azerbaijan Should Guarantee Rights of Civil Society Participants at Climate Conference.” HRW expressed its serious concerns about Baku hosting the Conference.

HRW obtained a copy of the signed UN-Azerbaijan Agreement which has not been made public, despite the fact that UN members had insisted “that host country agreements should be made publicly available and should uphold international human rights law.”

HRW urged the UN to “publicly call upon the Azerbaijani government to respect its human rights obligations and facilitate a rights-respecting climate conference.” Amnesty International also issued a similar request in July. It is important that the Agreement protect not only the rights of Azerbaijani citizens, but also the safety and security of thousands of international participants of the Conference.

When I clicked on the link that HRW had included in its article, I found the text of the 20-page-long Agreement signed between the UN and the Government of Azerbaijan in August 2024. HRW complained that the Agreement “is replete with significant shortcomings and ambiguities on the protections for participants’ rights.” For example, while the Agreement states that Conference participants “shall enjoy immunity from legal process in respect of words spoken or written and any act performed by them,” it requires that they “respect Azerbaijani laws and not interfere in its ‘internal affairs.’”

Here are the highlights of the signed Agreement:

–“The Government [of Azerbaijan] is committed to uphold the fundamental human rights, dignity and worth of the human person, and equal rights of all participants participating in the Pre-sessional Meetings/Conference/UNFCC Meetings [United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change].”

–“The area within the Baku Olympic Stadium where the Conference and the Pre-sessional Meetings shall be held, including any area immediately outside it, will be under the direct supervision and control of the United Nations Department of Safety and Security….”

–“Host country support and technical personnel shall be guided by the highest ethical and professional standards and are expected to behave with integrity and respect. The Government shall ensure that relevant standards are fully understood.”

–“The Government shall be responsible, at its expense, for such police protection and security as may be required to ensure the efficient running…of the Conference without interference of any kind.”

–“Security within the Conference premises shall be the responsibility of the UN Department of Safety and Security…. Security outside the Conference premises shall be the responsibility of the Government…. Such security personnel shall be guided by the highest ethical and professional standards and are expected to behave with integrity and respect. The Government shall ensure that relevant standards are fully understood.”

–All Participants “shall enjoy the privileges and immunities within the Republic of Azerbaijan,” under the UN “Convention on the Privileges and Immunities…. The representatives of observer organizations/other persons…shall enjoy immunity from legal process in respect of words spoken or written and any act performed by them in connection with their participation” in the Conference.

–All Participants “have the right of entry into and exit from the Republic of Azerbaijan and no impediments shall be imposed on their transit to and from the Conference premises.” Exceptions can be made in case the Government presents to the UN “well founded objections based on law concerning the entry of a particular individual. Such objections must relate to specific criminal, security matters and not to nationality, religion, professional or political affiliation.”

–The Conference premises are “protected…and access thereto is subject to the authority and control of the [UN] secretariat. These premises shall be inviolable for the duration of the Conference.”

–All Participants enjoying “privileges and immunities provided by this Agreement…have the duty to respect the laws and regulations in force in the Republic of Azerbaijan and have the duty not to interfere in its internal affairs.”

–In addition to paying the expenses of hosting the Conference, the Government of Azerbaijan will reimburse the UN $5,811,800 for the costs incurred in planning the Conference, airfare for UN personnel, and technical services.

The Agreement finally states that “upon the conclusion of the Conference, the [UN] secretariat will issue a report regarding the implementation of the terms of this Agreement, including on lessons learned and challenges faced, to the [UN] Bureau.”

We will find out at the end of the Conference if Azerbaijan has abided by the terms of the Agreement, particularly in respect to human rights, including suppression by police of public protests by Azerbaijani citizens during the Conference.

Over the years, there have been several reports exposing the billions of dollars that Azerbaijan’s ruling Aliyev family has embezzled from the state coffers and the large amount of bribes the government has given to various European and U.S. officials.

It is, therefore, not surprising that the next week’s COP29 Climate Summit in Baku is another example of how the ruling elite takes advantage of every opportunity to line its pockets.

The OCCRP (Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project) exposed Azerbaijan’s scandalous actions titled: “‘Official Partners’ of Azerbaijan’s COP29 Climate Summit Linked to Ruling Aliyev Family and Their Inner Circle… Everywhere this year’s international visitors in Baku look, they’ll see companies that have been linked to the family of Azerbaijan’s authoritarian president, Ilham Aliyev.” This extensive report was written by James Dowsett, Kelly Bloss, Fatima Karimova, and Eli Moskowitz.

OCCRP described Azerbaijan as “the most authoritarian country to ever host the event…. Whether it’s mining, banking, hospitality, or construction, there is hardly a major industry in Azerbaijan” that the ruling Aliyev family has not dominated. “As a result, the Aliyevs and their inner circle have built up staggering wealth, much of it held overseas or tied up in property abroad. Even the president’s 11-year-old son owned a London office building.”

Here are the links between the inner circle of the family of President Ilham Aliyev and the ‘official partners’ of the Climate Summit:

1) “Pres. Aliyev’s daughter’s ex-husband [Emin Agalarov]… won a $5.2-million government contract [without any competitive tender process] to host 5,000 COP29 guests at his luxurious Sea Breeze Resort on the Caspian Sea.” The guests “will stay in ultra-luxurious rooms… with access to a seven-kilometer-long beach, over 50 bars and restaurants, and 60 swimming pools.” The six Azeri journalists who exposed this arrangement are now sitting in a Baku jail.

2) “PASHA Holdings, one of the biggest companies in Azerbaijan, owns many of the host city’s top hotels and has extensive interests in tourism, construction, insurance, and banking. PASHA belongs to Aliyev’s two adult daughters [Leyla and Arzu[.” The company’s deputy board chairman, Mir Jamal Pashayev “is a cousin of Azerbaijan’s first lady and vice president Mehriban Aliyeva.”

3) “Azersun Holding… is chaired by [Abdolbari Gozal] the uncle of [Hassan Gozel] who set up three companies in the British Virgin Islands for the Aliyeva sisters.”

4) “Silk Way West Airlines… is responsible for transporting materials and supplies to the conference. It’s owned by a former state official, but has been previously linked to one of the Aliyeva daughters through a sister company, Silk Way Bank…. The airline is ultimately owned by a former state official, Zaur Akhundov, but it has also been linked to the first family in the past through a sister company: A 2010 investigation by Radio Free Europe found that Arzu Aliyeva, the president’s younger daughter, was one of three owners of Silk Way Bank, the former financial arm of Silk Way Group, which the airline is also part of.”

5) “GILTEX, a firm that controls nearly three quarters of the local textile market and until last year was part of a conglomerate [Gilan Holding] in which the president’s daughters held a majority stake [alongside the children of Kamaladdin Heydarov, Azerbaijan’s Emergency Situations Minister. Heydarov is also a member of the COP29 organizing committee]. Gilan Holding was liquidated in 2023.”

6) “SOCAR Green… is a subsidiary of Azerbaijan’s state oil company, SOCAR, which plays an outsized role in the oil-producing nation’s economy.”

7) Bank ABB, “rebranded in 2021, but under its former name, the International Bank of Azerbaijan, made unflattering headlines for the central role it played in the $2.9-billion money laundering scandal known as the Azerbaijani Laundromat. An account at the bank was used as a key conduit for moving a large portion of these funds.  The bank’s former chairman was jailed in 2016 for stealing almost $3 billion from the institution. His wife, who lived in the U.K., was later served with the country’s first-ever ‘unexplained wealth order,’ with British authorities demanding that she prove her vast wealth had a legal origin. She later agreed to forfeit a $17.8-million mansion and a golf club to the British state.”

OCCRP further stated that it “has been reporting on Azerbaijan — and exposing corruption, human rights abuses, and self-dealing — for over a decade.” Here are the highlights of some of the reports:

1) “How the ruling Aliyev family profited from a currency collapse, how it sought to buy Kyrygz gold fields, and how it appeared to siphon off a staggering $1 billion from the acquisition of a telecom company.”

2) “A 2016 investigation from data in the Panama Papers that revealed how the [Aliyev] family used offshore structures and multiple layers of ownership to secretly hold a fortune.”

3) “The jailing earlier this year of a group of independent journalists on trumped-up charges ahead of February’s presidential election.”

4) “How American lobbyists have promoted and taken money from the regime, and how the ‘Azerbaijani Laundromat’ was used to funnel billions of dollars out of the country on behalf of its elite.”