A senior Democratic senator took aim at Azerbaijan, the host of this year’s United Nations Conference of the Parties on Climate Change, or COP29, which is set to take place in mid-November.
As top international leaders are scheduled to gather in Baku in mid-November, Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) blasted the country this week for failing to recognize “freedoms of speech and assembly,” pointing to the imprisonment of Armenian and environmental activists.
“Hosting a major international conference like COP29 should come with responsibilities and expectations that host countries allow frank discussion of information and issues, which requires recognizing freedoms of speech and assembly,” Cardin said in a Monday statement. “Azerbaijan has not done so.”
He called on Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to release the activists he said were detained after protesting poor labor practices and environmental impacts of operations in the Chovdar gold mine.
In hosting the climate conference, Azerbaijan has the opportunity to be an important partner to the United States, the longtime senator noted. However, Cardin said the nation must release more than a dozen activists, journalists, and other detainees before November.
He specifically called for the release of activist Tofig Yagublu, journalist Alasgar Mammadli, and economist Farid Mehralizada.
Azerbaijan, which borders western Asia and eastern Europe, was announced as the host of the Nov. 11-22 conference in December 2023.
In addition to being criticized for jailing government critics and members of the media, Azerbaijan has come under fire as the host of COP29 over its economy’s dependence on oil and gas production and its burning of fossil fuels. The International Energy Agency has estimated that oil and gas account for around 90% of revenue for Azerbaijan’s exports, supporting around 60% of the nation’s federal budget.
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The nation has defended its production of oil and gas, revealing this summer that it hopes to raise funds from these producers to go toward green projects in other developing countries.
This, too, has garnered criticism from environmental activists, who have dubbed the proposed efforts as “greenwashing.”