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Article

28 Apr 2015

Author:
Rebecca Lowe, International Bar Association

Western govts. & businesses played "key role" in Azerbaijan’s crackdown on freedom of expression, says Intl. Bar Association commentary

"Azerbaijan: Western inaction breeding ‘culture of impunity’ for free speech abuses", 23 April 2015

Western governments and businesses have played a key role in Azerbaijan’s ‘unprecedented’ crackdown on freedom of expression due to their ongoing failure to speak out, lawyers and activists have told IBA Global Insight… Annabel Short, Programme Director at the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, says: ‘It is true that the duty to protect human rights rests with states.  However when states clearly fall far short of that duty, economic actors who often have huge leverage over the governments of countries where they do business must apply that leverage – publicly or in private – to express concern.’  BP declined to respond to these comments.