Annual Review – Azerbaijan II

ILGA-Europe’s Annual Review, covering the LGBTI situatin in Azerbaijan in 2019.

This annaul review cover the time period of 2019 from January to December. The Annual Review was prepared by ILGA-Europe and Azerbaijani human rights defenders specialised on LGBTI and queer rights. 

Please find second part of the annual review below. We will share the review by partially. 

Bodily integrity

A surgery performed on an intersex teenager was reported on an online news site in March. The teenager had been subjected to non-consensual medical interventions as a baby. The article used stigmatising language. Local activists were unable to get in touch with the teenager.

Education

In April, Elina Hajiyeva, a 14-year-old girl attempted to kill herself by jumping out a window in her school, due to homophobic bullying. Although Elina’s mother and teachers had reported the bullying to the principal, she took no action. After the attempted suicide, the principal kept Elina in her office for an hour. Elina died in the hospital later. On 16 October, the General Prosecutor sentenced the principal to 2.5 years in prison, and forbade her to hold positions in educational institutions for three years. On 24 October, the Sabail District Court ordered the principal to be under home arrest for the rest of her sentence, two years and two months, between the hours of 23:00-07:00. Both parties are appealing the judgment.

Activists continued their advocacy against school violence, and on 13 May the Ministry of Education approved an Action Plan and launched an anti-bullying campaign in October, called Menimle Danish/”Talk to me”.

Equality and Non-discrimination 

In January, Nafas LGBT Azerbaijan Alliance sent an inquiry to multiple ministries regarding the implementation of the SDGs. The State Committee for Family, Women and Children Affairs was the only one to respond, but did not address questions on LGBTI children, youth and LBT women.

In September, Nafas published a report documenting discrimination and violence against LGBT people between January and June, including hate crimes; bullying in school; domestic violence; extortion, blackmail, torture and ill-treatment by police; and police immunity.

Three employees of the Azerbaijani airline AZAL were fired after releasing personal information of a trans passenger on social media, including a photo of her passport. The airline apologised.

An Azerbaijani immigrant in Germany Maria M., who is married to a German woman, was told by the authorities to return to Baku and apply for a visa, so that she can continue to reside in Hamburg. Maria M. suffered lesbophobic harassment in Azerbaijan, and her marriage could place her in grave danger. Maria appealed and applied for asylum.

Freddom of assembly 

The police denied a permit for a feminist rally, which organisers held regardless, on 20 October. The protest against domestic violence was forcefully dispersed by the police. Several participants were injured and detained. A group wore T-shirts calling for justice for Elina Hajiyeva (see under Education).

Fredoom of expression

The British Embassy in Baku raised the rainbow flag on IDAHOT again this year.

LGBTIQ+ people kept gaining more visibility online this year, through interviews, social media posts and pages.

As part of the International Festival of Contemporary Art in September, a Swedish graffiti artist installed a giant mural of a trans woman in Baku. Local residents complained to the authorities who covered half of the mural a few days later.