New media and human rights center protects Azerbaijani journalists and human rights workers

The Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS) recently announced the opening of its new office – the Media and Human Rights Centre, in Tbilisi in Georgia. The new office will be part of a major drive to increase the impact of its human rights work in Azerbaijan.

“Our purpose in setting up this media centre is to provide a meeting place for journalists and human rights defenders from Azerbaijan. We had a similar office in Baku which was shut by the government during the anti-NGO crackdown in 2014. This centre is meant for the individuals deprived of the opportunity of working in Azerbaijan’, IRFS CEO, Emin Huseynov said.

“The environment in which Azerbaijani media and human rights defenders operate is increasingly hostile. Those who stand up for human rights often pay high price for their courage. I am glad that the fight for press freedom and human rights continues against the odds, and this new centre is the best evidence of that”, said Gulnara Akhundova, Head of Department for Global Response at International Media Support.

Hafiz Babali, an investigative journalist from Azerbaijan, who has recently been elected as a deputy chairman of IRFS board, highlighted that IRFS continues its work despite all the reprisals. “Having a permanent office in Tbilisi, will enable us to campaign harder for justice and better rights for all in Azerbaiijan.”

IRFS is a local Azerbaijani NGO founded on World Press Freedom Day in 2006 by two Azerbaijani journalists, in response to the growing government restrictions on freedom of expression and freedom of press.

The new establishment of IRFS office in Georgia sets out a new way of working for the organisation, which was illegally shut down in Azerbaijan in 2014. Responsibilities that were previously held in Baku have now been transferred to the new national office in Tbilisi which will act as the main base for the IRFS’s research, campaign and communications work addressing free expression issues in Azerbaijan.

The new center was established on December 6 2016 with support from IMS and other media partners working to protect press freedom.