House committee examines human rights in Azerbaijan, Egypt, Cuba
By Olesya Vartanyan
(AXcess News) Washington - The name of Azerbaijani journalist Elmar
Huseinov is on the Freedom Forum Journalists Memorial near Washington.
He is among more than 1,500 journalists from all over the world who have
been killed in the line of duty since the middle of the 19th century.
Huseinov was an editor of the leading opposition newspaper in Azerbaijan
and was gunned down in his apartment in 2005.
Huseinov's death became one of the first in the range of events in 2005
after which Azerbaijan's news media was labeled as "not free," according
to a report by Freedom House, an international human rights organization.
This situation was discussed Thursday at a hearing of a House Foreign
Affairs subcommittee. Azerbaijan was discussed along with Cuba and Egypt.
Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass., the subcommittee chair, said these three
countries are examples of regimes from different parts of the world that
lack freedom. He pointed out that in all these countries power is
inherited within families.
Azerbaijan is ruled by Ilham Aliyev, a son of Heydar Aliyev, who ruled
Azerbaijan for about 10 years. Although Ilham Aliyev won the 2003
presidential elections with more than 70 percent of the vote, local
representatives of the civil society and small opposition parties said
it looked like the son inheriting power from his father.
Ilham Aliyev became the president of one of the Caucasus region's
fastest growing economies, due to its oil and gas industry.
But for the last 20 years it has had a conflict with neighboring
Armenia. Both claim land that amounts to about 20 percent of what
Azerbaijan recognizes at its territory.
After Ilham Aliyev became Azerbaijan's ruler, several events happened
that international organizations claimed were human rights violations.
In October 2005, before the November parliamentary elections, a number
of former and current senior officials were detained in response to what
the regime claimed was a coup attempt. Some experts say it helped Aliyev
to consolidate his position among the country's ruling elite.
During the same period, police beat people who were participating in a
peaceful demonstration opposing the government. No officers were punished.
Aliyev's party won a majority in the Azerbaijani parliament, known as
the Mejlis. After these events, Aliyev met with President Bush in the
White House. Some in Azerbaijan and at the hearing interpreted this as
the U.S. protecting the ruling regime.
The photo of this meeting was shown during the hearing, along with other
photos of Bush's meetings with other controversial rulers, including
those of Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
Delahunt said he keeps a collection of such photos in a cabinet. He said
they help him to remember how the White House supports such
"authoritarian regimes" because of their oil and their support for U.S.
policies.
Freedom House pointed to some of the same type of problems.
Its report said Egypt recently held its "most democratic and transparent
presidential and legislative elections in more than half a century." But
when "real political competition" emerged, President Hosni Mubarak's
government adopted new measures to suppress opposition and imprisoned an
opposition presidential candidate.
The U.S. has "retreated" from pushing Egypt toward "its forward leaning
policy" because of fears of terrorism, the report says.
Calling Cuba "one of the most repressive regimes in the world," the
report says that human rights activists deserve support from the
international community as power is transferred "in a post-Fidel
environment."
Azerbaijan is one of the main partners of the U.S. in energy politics.
It sends oil that ends up all over the world through the
Baku-Tbilisi-Jeihan pipeline that the U.S. supported politically and
with financial guarantees. A future project will deliver gas from
Azerbaijan to Europe.
Azerbajan is important as it has a common boarder with Iran. This Muslim
country is considered as an important ally for the anti-terrorism
politics of the U.S.
Morton H. Halperin, a senior fellow of the Center for American Progress
and former Clinton administration official, said during the hearing that
human rights activists in all three countries want the U.S. to support them.
But he said U.S. support can encourage repressive governments in such
countries as Iran and Cuba to take measures against the activists.
In addition, he said the U.S. should support countries that have good
human rights records.
"In Azerbaijan, we should say that if you improve the situation with
human rights, you will get more economic donations," he said.
In each of the last five years, Azerbaijan has gotten an average of
about $73 million from the U.S. government, according to the
Congressional Research Service. About 16 percent of this supports
democracy assistance.
"We are interested in improving the situation with human rights in our
country, and it is the principal position of the top leadership and
politicians," said Araz Azimov, the Azerbaijan deputy minister of
foreign affairs, during a lecture at the Woodrow Wilson Center the day
before the hearing.
"The progress in the human rights is the evolutionary process. It takes
many components - economic development, stability in the country,
stability of the government, responsibility of the government. All these
issues are interrelated."
Azimov said the situation will improve with the passing years.
Source: Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
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