UN calls on Azerbaijan to make state oil firm SOCAR accountable to Parliament to avoid human rights abuses
The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan, which owns 20% of the shares in ElectroGas Malta…has come under scrutiny of a United Nations human rights committee, which is calling for more accountability. The committee for business and human rights, operating under the UN Council for Human Rights, has called on the Azeri government to make the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) accountable to the country’s Parliament. SOCAR will be Malta’s main supplier of natural gas for the next 18 years and has also teamed up with British Petroleum to link the country’s gas fields to Europe through a pipeline passing through Turkey and the Adriatic sea to link with Italy. Questions on its secretive business model have been raised by NGO Global Witness in a report which reveals that private individuals could be benefiting from the company’s opaque structures at the expense of the citizens of Azerbaijan.