Asma Jahagir: "This has been a visit that has given me more hopes than worries" Baku, 4 March, 2006 - From February 26 to March 5, 2006 the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on freedom of religion or belief, Mrs. Asma Jahangir visited Azerbaijan on a field mission. The purpose of her visit was to assess the situation in terms of freedom of religion or belief and to examine incidents and governmental actions which may be inconsistent with the provisions of the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination base on Religion or Belief, as well as to recommend remedial measures for such situations. Special Rapporteur of the UN Commission on Human Rights on freedom of religion or belief concludes her mission to Azerbaijan * * * During her visit Mrs. A. Jahangir had meetings with the President of Azerbaijan, representatives of the Government, in particular those in charge of issues directly or indirectly relating to the questions of religious intolerance and freedom of religion or belief, any other government agencies dealing with matters within the scope of her mandate, non-governmental organizations, representatives of all the religious communities present in the country, religious organizations, as well as oppositional political parties. In accordance with the mandate, the Special Rapporteur will prepare a report which will contain conclusions and recommendations concerning the right to freedom of religion or belief Azerbaijan. The report will be officially submitted to the Government of Azerbaijan. On March 4, 2006 the Special Rapporteur held a press-conference for representatives of the local media in the UN Office in Baku. At the press-conference the Special Rapporteur made a press statement related to her preliminary assessment of the situation with the right to freedom of religion and belief in Azerbaijan. Mr. Jahangir noted in her statement "an undisputable degree of tolerance of the society in general which certainly constitutes an essential ingredient of the freedom of religion or belief in a society". She stated that "the Government generally respects freedom of religion or belief but this respect is not uniformly observed in all regions of Azerbaijan I have indeed noticed that, in some cases, the concerned authorities may have blurred the thin line that distinguishes facilitation of religious freedoms from control. In particular, certain situations related to the different aspects of this control have resulted in actual limitations of the right to freedom of religion of religious communities: difficulties in registration, restriction on religious literature, methods of appointment of clergy or obstacles for non registered religious communities." Despite the concerns the Special Rapporteur expressed, she was convinced that "Azerbaijan can play a leading role in building a model of its own because it has the most valuable raw material available to achieve this purpose: the good will and accommodating nature of its people towards spiritual beliefs." Therefore, she said her main conclusion about the visit was that "this has been a visit that has given me more hopes than worries". For more information contact: Mr. Teymur Melikaslanov National Programme Officer Human Rights Project in Azerbaijan Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Tel: 498 98 88 (ext. 143) Press statement of Asma Jahangir, Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief Photo gallery

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