HRW Calls on EU to Focus on Human Rights in South Caucasus

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement issued on December 9 that the European Union should press for concrete benchmarks on torture, freedom of expression and other key human rights issues when it holds ministerial-level meetings with Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia on December 12.

This meeting will represent an annual meeting in Brussels under the framework of its Partnership and Cooperation Agreements with the three South Caucasus countries to negotiate Action Plans with Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia in frames of the EU Neighborhood Policy.

?This meeting gives the European Union a unique opportunity to press Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia for concrete progress on human rights. EU governments should not miss this chance to encourage tangible improvements on human rights in these countries,? Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said.

According to the HRW ?torture and ill-treatment in custody, abusive law enforcement authorities, lack of independence of judges and lawyers and restrictions on freedom of the press remain ongoing problems in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.?

HRW also claims that despite limited progress in some areas, reforms have been slow and inadequately implemented in all three countries.

In the case of Georgia, human rights group says that the President Saakashvili?s administration has had ?an uneven record on human rights.? 
 
The statement also reads that constitutional amendments adopted in 2004 in Georgia increased the President?s influence over the judiciary, further eroding judicial independence.
 
?Although the media is now relatively free, it has become less critical of the government and there are signs of increasing government influence on media content,? the statement reads. 
 
It also stresses that the Georgian government has taken some positive steps to prevent torture, but torture and due process violations continue to be reported.

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