In 2025, by Human Rights Watch’s account, Azerbaijan did two things simultaneously: it signed a US-mediated peace framework with Armenia, and it removed nearly every independent observer from inside its borders.
The Washington Declaration, signed in August 2025, set out a political framework for ending the conflict, establishing diplomatic relations, and granting the United States development rights over a 42-kilometer trade route across Armenian territory (text of the declaration). The same year, per HRW, Azerbaijan suspended or expelled the UN Development Programme, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC’s own closure statement), and revoked accreditation for the remaining international media outlets, including BBC, Voice of America, and Bloomberg services.
What the evidence shows
The HRW World Report 2026 chapter on Azerbaijan documents, with names and dates: seven Abzas Media journalists convicted in June 2025 and sentenced to seven to nine years; at least 12 journalists associated with Meydan TV detained by August 2025; in-absentia convictions of exiled bloggers with sentences up to 16 years; opposition leader Tofig Yagublu sentenced to nine years; peace scholar Bahruz Samadov to 15 years on treason charges in a closed trial; Talysh minority researcher Igbal Abilov to 18 years. HRW characterizes the charges in these cases as spurious or bogus.
Beyond individual prosecutions, legislative amendments approved in August 2025 empowered the state Media Development Agency to ban outlets not in the official registry and imposed prior-approval requirements on foreign funding for NGOs.
On torture, the record now includes a court finding, not only allegations: in July 2025 the European Court of Human Rights found Azerbaijan in violation of Article 3 of the European Convention for failing to investigate credible torture allegations by Taleh Baghirzade and Fikrat Ibishbayli (judgment on HUDOC).
On Nagorno-Karabakh, HRW states that despite the peace framework’s stated commitments, Azerbaijan “has taken no meaningful steps to ensure the right to return in safety and dignity” for the ethnic Armenians who fled in September 2023, or to restore their property rights.
Why it matters
A peace declaration and a documentation blackout are not unrelated events. The expulsion of UNHCR, UNDP, and the ICRC – the institutions that would monitor a right of return – occurred in the same year the right of return went unimplemented. This pattern suggests the removal of observers is not incidental to the diplomatic track; it determines what the diplomatic track can verify.
The interstate legal record continues regardless: the ICJ confirmed jurisdiction over Armenia’s CERD case in November 2024, and the case is in active written proceedings (our brief on Case 180). The ECtHR’s July 2025 Article 3 finding shows international courts are still producing binding findings even as ground-level access closes.
Leave a Reply