United States Commission on International Religious Freedom recommends US Government to designate Azerbaijan as a ‘country of particular concern’

In its 2024 Annual Report, United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) recommends the US Government to designate Azerbaijan as a “country of particular concern,” or CPC, for engaging in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom, as defined by the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA).

 

It also urges the Government to allocate funding to the U.S. Agency for International Development and U.S. Embassy in Baku to restore, preserve, and protect places of worship and other religious or cultural sites in Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding territories.

 

The report notes that in 2023 the Azerbaijani government continued to pose a threat to religious sites in and around the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. In May, the chairman of the official State Committee for Work on Religious Affairs Mubariz Gurbanli urged Armenian Apostolic priests to leave the Dadivank Monastery, falsely claiming that they had no ties to the religious site. Although a United Nations mission to tNagorno Karabakh in October concluded that it “saw no damage … to cultural or religious structures,” other organizations remained concerned by the potential for damage or destruction in the region. In November 2023, Caucasus Heritage Watch (CHW), a research initiative supported by Cornell University, reported damage to the historical Meghretsots Holy Mother of God Church in Shushi. That same month, CHW released satellite imagery that indicated probable damage to two Armenian cemeteries also in Shushi.