IV 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 537 

Promoting United States national security and foreign policy objectives 

through consolidation and strengthening of the rule of law and respect 

for human rights in the Republic of Azerbaijan. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 26, 2017 

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself and Mr. MCGOVERN) submitted the 

following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Promoting United States national security and foreign policy 

objectives through consolidation and strengthening of the 

rule of law and respect for human rights in the Republic 

of Azerbaijan. 

Whereas the Republic of Azerbaijan is a partner for the 

United States and its allies in combating terrorism, supporting United States and allied operations in Afghanistan, promoting European energy security, and addressing other transnational threats; 

Whereas it is in the national security interest of the United 

States to advance respect for universally recognized 

human rights and rule of law as the foundation for just, 

peaceful, and prosperous relations among nations; 


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•HRES 537 IH 

Whereas the United States and the Republic of Azerbaijan as 

members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and signatories of the Helsinki 

Final Act ‘‘recognize the universal significance of human 

rights and fundamental freedoms, respect for which is an 

essential factor for peace, justice and well-being necessary to ensure the development of friendly relations and 

co-operation among themselves as among all States’’; 

Whereas, as an OSCE participating State, the Government of 

Azerbaijan has committed itself to work toward a standard of free and fair elections, yet since signing the Helsinki Final Act in 1992 no election held in Azerbaijan 

has met the minimum requirements as determined by the 

OSCE; 

Whereas the Department of State’s 2016 Country Report on 

Human Rights Practices for Azerbaijan found that ‘‘authorities limited the freedoms of expression, assembly, 

and association through intimidation, incarceration on 

questionable charges, and harsh abuse of selected activists and secular and religious opposition figures’’; 

Whereas the Department of State’s 2016 Country Report on 

Human Rights Practices for Azerbaijan further determined that ‘‘authorities arbitrarily arrested and detained 

activists, engaged in politically motivated imprisonment, 

conducted trials that lacked due process, and subjected 

activists to lengthy pretrial detention with impunity’’; 

Whereas a coalition of Azerbaijani nongovernmental human 

rights organizations in August 2017 documented 158 political prisoners in Azerbaijan; 

Whereas opposition leader and former Presidential candidate 

Ilgar Mammadov has been detained since February 2013 


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•HRES 537 IH 

and remains in jail serving a 7-year prison sentence in 

contravention of a European Court of Human Rights decision calling for his release and determining the charges 

against him were intended ‘‘to silence or punish [him] for 

criticizing the Government’’; 

Whereas credible reports indicate that Azerbaijani authorities 

tortured, humiliated, and threatened 2 Azerbaijani youth 

activists into confessing to serious drug charges after 

they vandalized a public statue in May 2016 and were 

subsequently sentenced to 10 years in prison on the fabricated drug charges; 

Whereas the Government of Azerbaijan since March 2017 

has blocked the websites of Meydan TV, the Azadliq 

newspaper, Turan TV, and the United States-sponsored 

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s (RFE/RL) Azeri 

service, effectively stifling the country’s only remaining 

major sources of independent news following years of 

Government efforts to harass, coopt, and shutter independent media sources in print, radio, and TV; 

Whereas, as of September 1, 2017, approximately 10 journalists are in jail in Azerbaijan, the RFE/RL Baku Bureau 

remains closed by government order since 2014, and 

RFE/RL correspondent Khadija Ismayilova remains subject to a travel ban following her arrest, conviction, imprisonment, and release in 2016; 

Whereas independent Azerbaijani journalist Afgan Mukhtarli 

was abducted from Tbilisi, Georgia, on May 29, 2017, 

beaten, transported against his will into Azerbaijan, 

charged by Azerbaijani authorities with illegal border 

crossing and smuggling, and as of September 1, 2017, 

remains in pre-trial detention in Baku while those reVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:26 Sep 27, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR537.IH HR537

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•HRES 537 IH 

sponsible for his kidnapping are unidentified and face no 

consequences; 

Whereas the 2017 Annual Report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) 

found that in 2016 the Government of Azerbaijan ‘‘increased its repression of independent religious activity, 

closing Sunni mosques, raiding religious bookshops, and 

harassing Jehovah’s Witnesses and certain Protestant 

communities’’; 

Whereas, as of September 1, 2017, more than 90 prisoners 

of conscience are in jail for exercising their constitutionally guaranteed freedoms of religion and assembly; 

Whereas the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability 

Act authorizes the United States Government to deny 

travel visas and freeze the United States-based assets of 

foreign government officials responsible for ‘‘extrajudicial 

killings, torture, or other gross violations of internationally recognized human rights’’ or ‘‘ordering, controlling, 

or otherwise directing, acts of significant corruption’’; 

and 

Whereas the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 

authorizes the United States Government to deny travel 

visas to any foreign government official responsible for 

‘‘particularly severe violations of religious freedom’’, including ‘‘torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment; prolonged detention without 

charges; causing the disappearance of persons by the abduction or clandestine detention of those persons; or 

other flagrant denial of the right to life, liberty, or the 

security of persons’’: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 


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•HRES 537 IH 

1 (1) affirms the importance of the United States 

2 partnership with the Government of Azerbaijan in 

3 the strategic areas of international security, Euro4 pean energy security, and economic development; 

5 (2) calls on the United States Government, in 

6 its diplomatic engagement and delivery of bilateral 

7 assistance, to prioritize as a matter of strategic im8 portance its response to the Government of Azer9 baijan’s violations of universally recognized human 

10 rights, fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law to 

11 ensure the long-term sustainability of the United 

12 States-Azerbaijani bilateral partnership; 

13 (3) calls on the Government of Azerbaijan to 

14 immediately release all political prisoners and pris15 oners of conscience, rehabilitate their records, lift 

16 travel bans, and cease harassment, intimidation, and 

17 mistreatment of citizens engaged in political speech, 

18 independent journalism, and other forms of advocacy 

19 on behalf of government accountability, democratic 

20 values, and universally recognized human rights; 

21 (4) urges the United States Government to 

22 closely evaluate reporting from intelligence, diplo23 matic, open source, congressional, and nongovern24 mental organization sources to identify and impose 

25 travel and financial restrictions on Government of 


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•HRES 537 IH 

1 Azerbaijan officials responsible for gross violations 

2 of internationally recognized human rights, pursuant 

3 to the provisions of the Global Magnitsky Human 

4 Rights Accountability Act; 

5 (5) urges the United States Government to 

6 closely evaluate reporting from intelligence, diplo7 matic, open source, congressional, and nongovern8 mental organization sources to identify and impose 

9 travel restrictions on Government of Azerbaijan offi10 cials responsible for severe violations of religious 

11 freedom, pursuant to the provisions of the Inter12 national Religious Freedom Act of 1998; and 

13 (6) stands with the people of Azerbaijan in sup14 port of their peaceful efforts to achieve democratic 

15 reform and exercise their fundamental freedoms en16 shrined in the Helsinki Final Act and other inter17 national charters. 

Æ 


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