Azerbaijan Silences Journalists Under COP29 Spotlight

November 15, 2024 – Azerbaijan –

As Azerbaijan hosted the COP29 climate summit in Baku in November 2024, international attention shifted briefly to the country’s environmental commitments. Yet behind the scenes, a harsh crackdown on independent journalists exposed the government’s continued assault on press freedom.

In the months leading up to the summit, the Azerbaijani government ramped up arrests of critics. According to the International Press Institute (IPI), at least 18 journalists were detained in 2024 alone, many under charges such as “currency smuggling” and “abuse of office.” Eleven remain in pretrial detention, with some held for months without formal indictment. Rights groups say these charges are politically motivated and intended to dismantle independent media voices ahead of the global event.

Just weeks before COP29 began on November 11, authorities arrested over 30 journalists, activists, and dissidents. Among them were staff from prominent independent outlets such as Meydan TV and Abzas Media. This wave of repression signaled a clear intent to silence dissent during a summit meant to spotlight global cooperation and transparency.

President Ilham Aliyev’s administration used COP29 to burnish its international image while deepening its authoritarian grip at home. International observers, including Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders, denounced the arrests as a form of greenwashing, where environmental commitments mask ongoing human rights abuses. EU officials and press freedom advocates urged the immediate release of imprisoned journalists, stressing that environmental leadership cannot come at the expense of civil liberties.

The clampdown intensified after the summit. By mid-2025, even the few remaining critical journalists in Azerbaijan had been arrested or forced into exile. Observers described it as the final stage in dismantling independent journalism in the country.

Azerbaijan’s COP29 moment has thus become emblematic not of climate progress but of the danger facing journalists in authoritarian contexts. While world leaders debated carbon targets in Baku’s convention halls, Azerbaijani reporters were being silenced in detention cells. The summit highlighted not just climate urgency, but the urgent need to defend press freedom as a pillar of democratic accountability, especially in regimes that exploit global platforms to suppress truth at home.

Reference – 

https://apnews.com/article/cop29-climate-baku-azerbaijan-796f5e8c62e361e5be892c7e17959d28

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/10/11/azerbaijan-repression-intensifies-in-the-run-up-to-cop29-in-baku_6729013_4.html

Azerbaijan: As COP29 is held in Baku, repression against journalists continues