Washington Post
By the Editorial Board
October 16, 2024
Azerbaijan, the host of the next U.N. climate conference, has a sordid record of human rights violations.
When the nations that are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change decide who will host the annual climate conference, the criteria include a country’s infrastructure, climate commitments, political stability and financial resources. But not democracy or human rights — or, apparently, whether blessing a particular regime with the privilege will embarrass the organization and the climate diplomats it assembles. The result is repeated instances of “greenwashing” some of the world’s most repressive rulers and most enthusiastic extractors of fossil fuels.
The upcoming U.N. Climate Change Conference, COP29, opens Nov. 11 in Azerbaijan. This is the third in a row in a dictatorship and the second in a row in a petrostate. The previous two conferences were held in the United Arab Emirates and Egypt. Azerbaijan seeks prestige by playing host in the capital, Baku, for a conference that is expected to focus on setting new finance goals for battling climate change. But that should not obscure the fact that Azerbaijan is ruled by a brutal despot, President Ilham Aliyev.
When 60 U.S. lawmakers sent a letter on Oct. 3 calling on Secretary of State Antony Blinken to “press for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners, hostages, and POWs, including ethnic Armenians,” the Azeri leader dismissed it as “disgusting.” But the concerns outlined by the lawmakers are very real. Azerbaijan’s sordid record of human rights violations is backed up by extensive evidence.