Response to the European Parliament resolution on human rights in Azerbaijan

25.2.2015

Question for written answer E-002911-15
to the Commission
Rule 130
Enrico Gasbarra (S&D)

At its meeting on 18 September 2014, the European Parliament approved a joint resolution on Azerbaijan which condemned in the strongest possible terms the arrest and detention of Leyla Yunus, the well-known director of the Institute of Peace and Democracy, her husband, historian Arif Yunus, and Rasul Jafarov, president of the Human Rights Club.

Paragraph 12 of the resolution calls on the Commission ‘to strictly apply the “more for more” principle (more aid in exchange for greater commitment), focusing notably on the situation of human rights defenders (in line with the EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders), arbitrary and politically motivated detentions, the independence of the judiciary, democratic reforms and fundamental rights and freedoms’, and calls in particular for ‘a review of ENI programming, putting an end to all assistance which is not strictly HR/civil society-oriented’.

How has the Commission responded to this specific point in the European Parliament resolution?