Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan's Supreme Court ruled on 4 February 2005 that the constitutional right to conscientious objection is in practice irrelevant.

Although Azerbaijan introduced the constitutional right to conscientious objection in a referendum 2 years ago, an appeal court in Baku rejected the claim of a conscientious objector on 16 September. Jehovah's Witness Mahir Bagirov was called up in 2000, but wrote to the recruitment office that he wishes to perform alternative service because of his faith. He was then again called up in May 2004. On 9 June, he lodged his suit at Baku's Khatai district court, artguing that the call up was unconstitutional.

The right to conscientious objection is derived from Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and seen as a manifestation of the freedom of religion and belief. The then CSCE stressed the right to conscientious objection in paragraph 18 of the Document of the Copenhagen meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension in June 1990.The UN Commission on Human Rights stressed the right to conscientious objection in several resolution, most recently Resolution 1998/77, 2000/34, 2002/45. The Council of Europe also stresses the right to conscientious objection, especially in resolution 337 (1967) and recommendations 1518 (2001), R (87) 8, and 816 (1977).

CCPR/CO/73/AZE
12 November 2001

(...)

21. The Committee takes note of the fact that the law makes no provision for the status of conscientious objector to military service, which may legitimately be claimed under article 18 of the Covenant.

The State party should ensure that persons liable for military service may claim the status of conscientious objector and perform alternative service without discrimination.

(...)