ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN

Background About the Campaign

As Azerbaijan prepared to host the 29th UN Climate Change Conference, COP29, a group of distinguished human rights defenders joined forces under the name of Anar Mammadli, campaigning to raise the profile of emblematic political prisoners amidst a climate of sustained repression in Azerbaijan.

On 29 April 2024, prominent democracy and human rights defender Anar Mammadli was abducted in the streets of Baku. A former political prisoner, Anar Mammadli is once again facing multiple arbitrary charges related to the management of his organisation, the only independent election watchdog in Azerbaijan. Prior to his arrest, Anar Mammadli had co-founded the Climate of Justice Initiative ahead of COP29.

Anar Mammadli is not the only political prisoner in Azerbaijan. According to the group “For Freedom of Political Prisoners in Azerbaijan”, over 400 individuals were detained arbitrarily in the country (by December 2025).

Because Anar Mammadli’s case is emblematic of the decade of repression, since his first arrest in December 2013 to his new arrest in April 2024, and emblematic of the government’s will to silence any debate on envrionmental or climate issues, the campaign started as the Anar Mammadli Campaign to end repression in Azerbaijan, ahead of COP29. It has the become the Campaign to End Repression in Azerbaijan.

The Campaign to End Repression in Azerbaijan was managed by Progress & Change Partnerships on behalf of a Steering Committee of Azerbaijani human rights defenders and international NGOs.