Friday wrap-up: Limits on foreign currency, an Amnesty International briefing and border tension

Amnesty International’s briefing

On May 12, Amnesty International published a briefing calling on the Azerbaijan government to stop “the vicious campaign of gendered smears and reprisals against women activists.”

The briefing documented systematic attacks trying to silence Azerbaijani activists and their partners. The briefing states that female activists are subjected to smear campaigns and are accused of being “bad wives” or “bad mothers”. Additionally, they are blackmailed with threats of leaking private conversations, personal data and materials of a sexual nature. There have been at least fifteen such cases in the last two years, and their number is growing.

Natalia Nozadze, Amnesty’s South Caucasus researcher, stated that, “the pattern and methods of these gendered reprisals and the fact that the targets are women who have exposed human rights violations or been critical of the authorities, strongly indicates that the Azerbaijani authorities are either directly responsible or complicit in these crimes”.

Amnesty International said authorities in the country must end gender-based violence and discrimination targeting women and conduct effective investigations into each and every known incident that took place.