M. van Klaveren, K.G. Tijdens, M. Hughie-Williams and N.E. Ramos Martin
2.1.2. Governance
Azerbaijan is a secular and unitary republic, with about nine million inhabitants1, in majority Turkic and
Shi’ite Muslim. Legislative authority is vested in the 123-member unicameral Milli Majlis or National Assem-
bly, but in practice the president dominates the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government.
The two-term limit for the presidency was removed in a March 2009 referendum, the conduct of which
was seriously flawed. Although there were more than 50 political parties, the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan Party
(YAP) continued to dominate the political system. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control
of the security forces, but in 2008 and 2009 members of the security forces at national and local commit-
ted numerous human rights abuses. Over these years, the government’s human rights record remained poor
and even worsened in some areas. The public’s right to peacefully change the government was restricted in
the October 2008 presidential elections, March 2009 referendum, and December 2009 municipal elections.
Law enforcement officers acted with impunity. The law states that persons who are detained, arrested, or
accused olf a crime should be advised immediately of their rights for arrest and accorded due process, but
the government did not respect these provisions in practice. The collegium of lawyers is government-con-
trolled, quite small (in total 768 members, of which only an estimated 415 were practicing) in a country of
nine million, and its legal services are, according to an OSCE report, “well below the minimum professional
standards expected of an independent defense bar”. Prison conditions were generally harsh and resulted in
numerous deaths, with Tuberculosis (TB) remaining the primary cause of death. The government continued
to imprison persons for politically motivated reasons. In 2008 and 2009 restrictions on freedom of assembly
continued, and restrictions and pressure on the media worsened, as did restrictions on political participa-
tion. A number of domestic and international human rights groups generally operated without government
restriction, investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases. Although the government
maintained ties with some human rights non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and responded to their
inquiries, on occasion the government criticized and intimidated other human rights NGOs and activists.
The Ministry of Justice continued routinely to deny or fail to register some human rights NGOs. Among
the major domestic NGOs is the Association for the Protection of Women’s Rights (US Dept of State 2009,
2010).
1 The variation in population figures circulating has in particular to do with the inclusion or exclusion of the population of the
Nagorno-Karabakh and related regions. In recent years ethnic Armenian separatists, with Armenia’s support, continued to
control most of the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding Azerbaijani territories (US Dept of State 2009). The
CIA World Factbook estimated the Azerbaijani population by July 2009 at 8,24 million, whereas the UN Dept of Economic
and Social Affairs Population Division estimated it for 2009 at 8,83 million. In January 2010, the ninth millionth Azerbaijani
citizen was officially born (wikipedia). As a starting point for education statistics, UNESCO (2010) set the total population by
2007 at 8,47 million.
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