In 2017, Georgia continued to pursue punitive criminal drug policies, Armenian Parliamentary elections failed to improve public confidence in the electoral system, while domestic violence remains a serious problem in the country, and the Azerbaijani government intensified its crackdown on critics, — according to the annual report from American rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW).
In their 28th edition of the annual World Report, HRW included detailed chapters about the state of human rights in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Russia. One of the most common problems in the entire Caucasus region remained discrimination against queer people.
Crackdown on queer people
The report detailed the persecutions in Chechnya of queer men, which intensified in February and early April, when, according to HRW, security officials unlawfully rounded up dozens of men they believed were gay, searched their mobile phones for contacts of other gay men, and tried to coerce them, including through torture, into naming their gay acquaintances.
Chechen authorities responded to the accusation by denying the existence of gay people in Chechnya. The report said they suggested ‘obliquely’ that families kill their gay relatives, and accused journalists and human rights defenders of seeking to destabilise the republic.
The chapter on Azerbaijan includes reports of the detention of dozens of people presumed to be queer on ‘dubious disobedience charges’. It also repeats what a number of local and international media has reported about police ill-treatment of detainees in order to coerce bribes, as well as information about other gay men.
In Armenia, HRW wrote that queer people often face harassment, discrimination, and violence. As an example, the report quoted queer rights group PINK Armenia as documenting nine physical attacks based on sexual orientation or gender identity through August. Although officials opened investigations into several cases, the law does not include discrimination based on sexual or gender identity as an aggravating circumstance.
Georgia has faced criticism for defining marriage as a ‘union of a woman and a man’ in its new constitution, the report said. Rights groups fear this could feed widespread homophobia in the country.
The World Report said that Armenia’s Parliamentary elections, which were the first since 2015 constitutional amendments, ‘failed to improve public confidence in the electoral system’, as the ruling Republican Party dominated amid reports of voting irregularities. It also focused on the authorities failing to bring to justice officials who are allegedly responsible for ‘excessive use of force against protesters and journalists’.
As underlined in a separate report, the lives and well-being of survivors of domestic violence — women and children — are in jeopardy because of the Armenian government’s failure to ensure their protection.
During their crackdown on independent voices, Azerbaijani authorities convicted at least 25 journalists and political activists, according to the report, while adding that dozens more were detained or are under criminal investigation, face harassment and travel bans, or have fled.
The group called a number of Azerbaijani laws ‘draconian’ as they impede independent groups’ work and ability to secure funding. It also claimed that torture and ill-treatment in custody persist.
The case of recently convicted journalist Afgan Mukhtarli was also mentioned in the report, with HRW decrying his abduction in Tbilisi and his illegal transfer to Azerbaijan.
In Georgia, HRW focused mostly on the constitutional reforms that the ruling Georgian Dream party passed last year. These cemented the country’s parliamentary system of governance, ‘without securing broader political consensus’.
Lack of accountability persisted for abuses committed by law enforcement agents, and HRW said that Georgia does not have an effective independent mechanism for investigating abuse by law enforcement officials. It also pointed out that Georgia maintained punitive criminal drug policies for drug users.
Other areas of concern included privacy rights, labour rights, media freedom and the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people.
The reports comes days after American rights group Freedom House published their Freedom in the World report, which claimed South Ossetia and Azerbaijan are among the least free places in Europe, and underlined a number of human rights abuses in the Caucasus.
Armenia has extended the protection status for Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians, without which they would not be able to leave the country.
On Thursday, the Armenian Ministry of Internal Affairs announced that the status of protection granted to Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians was extended until 31 December 2025, with the possibility of further extension.
This status was given to over 100,000 Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians who did not apply for Armenian citizenship following the mass displacement in 2023.
Armenia’s opposition has held a hearing in defence of the inclusion of the Declaration of Independence in Armenia’s constitution, with opposition figures insulting supporters and members of the ruling party.
The opposition Armenia Alliance faction held the hearing on Thursday to discuss the draft statement regarding the inviolable relevance of Armenia’s Declaration of Independence.
The hearing took place against the backdrop of continued statements from Azerbaijan that the inclusion of the d
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has said Azerbaijan is taking ‘constructive’ actions to facilitate the right to return of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians, as evidence mounts of the demolition of residential and cultural heritage buildings in Nagorno-Karabakh.
‘We have repeatedly commented on and emphasised the constructive steps taken by Baku to provide the population that left their native places with the opportunity to return there’, Zakharova said during a press briefing o
Human rights activist Zaruhi Hovhannisyan has slammed the Deputy Chair of the Armenian Parliament’s Defence Committee, Armen Khachatryan, for attempting to downplay the responsibility of the authorities in the non-combat deaths of soldiers.
‘In our civilian life, we have many suicides, we have many accidents. I don’t know why you don’t talk about it, the reasons for those suicides’, Khachatryan said on Tuesday, in response to a question regarding the recent death of a soldier outside of comba
In 2017, Georgia continued to pursue punitive criminal drug policies, Armenian Parliamentary elections failed to improve public confidence in the electoral system, while domestic violence remains a serious problem in the country, and the Azerbaijani government intensified its crackdown on critics, — according to the annual report from American rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW). 
