The International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY) and the Young European Socialists (YES)
have released a joint statement addressing their position on the UN COP29 Climate Conference
being hosted in Azerbaijan.
The preamble of the statement reads:
“The cost of inaction in the face of severe and irreversible climate impacts far
outweighs the costs of mitigation and adaptation. COP29 must provide an
opportunity for us to change course and for the international community, in
particular the countries of the Global North, to commit to making the significant, but
necessary investments.
As socialist activists, we strongly advocate for reform and a reassessment of the
selection process for COP hosting. Allowing a petrostate, one recently responsible
for brutal ethnic cleansing financed by oil and gas profits, and significantly
expanding fossil fuel production—to host this crucial climate summit is deeply
inappropriate. This decision undermines the credibility and integrity of the entire
process. Fossil fuels make up 90% of Azerbaijan’s total exports. These interests will
plague COP29, a large number of high-level oil and gas executives sit on the
organizing committee.”
The statement emphasizes the urgent need to increase climate financing while
expressing deep concern over the excessive reliance on carbon markets as the
primary solution to the climate crisis. It highlights that the climate crisis is a direct
consequence of capitalism, allowing high-exporting countries to sidestep imposing
meaningful costs on carbon emissions.
The statement proceeds to outline Azerbaijan’s human rights violations and articulate a series of
demands:
“Finally, we draw attention to the need to uphold justice and human rights. The
IUSY and YES express concern about the decision to host COP in Azerbaijan; a
country in which fossil fuels, militarisation, and authoritarianism are deeply
intertwined. The host agreement between Azerbaijan and the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is replete with gaps on
rights protections for COP participation. This damages the credibility of COP and
highlights the need to reform the UNFCCC to ensure credibility of the rotating
presidency, uninhibited access of key stakeholders in civil society, and introduce a
binding veto process.
In December of 2022, Aliyev’s government launched a humanitarian and energy
blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), which resulted in the forced displacement
of 120,000 ethnic Armenians from their ancestral land. This created an
environmental crisis in the water table, prompted by the dissipation of the region’s
key reservoir and hydropower plant. It is evident that Azerbaijan will weaponize,
and destroy, the local environment to commit atrocities.
Azerbaijan has increased their prosecution of critical voices in the lead-up to COP,
arresting outspoken activists, politicians, and academics. Amidst the forced
displacement of the indigenous Armenian population from Nagorno-Karabakh,
Aliyev’s forces abducted and illegally imprisoned 8 current and former members of
Nagorno-Karabakh’s leadership. The IUSY and YES demand the Azerbaijani
Government to release all political prisoners (journalists, activists, and political
opponents), as well as all ethnic Armenian POWs, civilian abductees, and hostages
immediately and be held accountable for their historic record of war crimes and
crimes against humanity, notably carrying out a complete ethnic cleansing of the
Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh. We stand true to our policy in support
of the people’s self-determination and the Armenian population’s right to collective
return to their homeland Nagorno-Karabakh. Additionally, we call on Azerbaijan to
end hostilities against the Republic of Armenia and commit to durable and
sustainable peace in the region.”
The statement concludes by addressing European Union countries:
“Azerbaijan has recently committed to doubling fossil exports to Europe by 2027.
We demand that the EU and its member states divest from Azerbaijani fossil fuels,
honoring the interlinked prerogatives of climate protection, human rights, and
peacekeeping.”
ARF Youth is a full member of the IUSY and YES.
