WNAM REPORT: The Human Rights Committee of Azerbaijan’s Milli Majlis is preparing an ambitious agenda for the 2025 autumn session, featuring a series of public hearings, roundtables, discussions, and conferences on a wide range of human rights and legal issues.
The draft work plan for the session outlines numerous events aimed at strengthening human rights protection, modernizing legal institutions, and addressing emerging challenges in the digital era.
Key planned events include a roundtable on “Digital Sovereignty, Information Sovereignty, and Human Rights” as part of the “2025 – Year of the Constitution and Sovereignty.” Another discussion will focus on the current state of cooperation with human rights-oriented civil society organizations and ways to enhance joint activities.
The committee will also host a roundtable on “The Role of the Bar in Safeguarding Citizens’ Rights and Advancing International Standards,” as well as a conference marking Lawyers’ Day on December 28 in partnership with the Bar Association.
Several discussions will address international legal developments, including “New Trends and Perspectives in the Work of International Judicial and Legal Institutions: A View from Azerbaijan,” and meetings with ANAMA on ensuring access to international legal platforms for victims of landmine terrorism. The committee, together with the Ministry of Justice, will hold hearings on the enforcement of criminal legislation.
Issues related to Azerbaijan’s Great Return policy will also feature prominently, with a roundtable on Azerbaijan’s unique experience in the Great Return and public hearings on a draft law concerning reintegration of the liberated territories.
In a more critical tone, the committee will organize a discussion on the perceived crisis of the “international human rights” concept and the closure of so-called “global human rights” organizations such as USAID, highlighting what it calls their long-standing biased activities against Azerbaijan.
Emerging technological challenges will also be addressed, including a conference on “Cybercrime and the Protection of Human Rights: New Challenges to National Security,” and an event on “Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights,” linked to the adoption of Azerbaijan’s 2025–2028 Artificial Intelligence Strategy.
International cooperation will be on the agenda as well. Following the August 8, 2025 Azerbaijan–US–Armenia trilateral meeting, the committee plans to prepare analytical documents on confidence-building and calls to renounce hate speech within a human rights framework. A joint event with the State Committee for Work with Diaspora will focus on “The Rights of the Azerbaijani Diaspora and the Role of Parliament.”
The committee will also host a webinar on “Radical Migration Policies in Western Societies: A Deep Crisis of Fundamental Human Rights,” and mark key international days with relevant events: on December 3 (International Day of Persons with Disabilities) with a discussion on “Social and Legal Protection of Persons with Disabilities: Legislation and Reforms,” and on December 10 (International Human Rights Day) with a dedicated roundtable.
Through this extensive agenda, the Human Rights Committee aims to foster national and international dialogue, address pressing human rights challenges, and contribute to the development of new legal frameworks in Azerbaijan.
