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CV NEWS FEED // A coalition of religious freedom leaders and organizations is calling for an international boycott of the Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP29) in Azerbaijan, citing the country’s history of genocide against Armenian Christians and its threats of further violence.
The summit is scheduled to take place in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, November 11-22. In a November 7 press release, the “Coalition to Boycott Baku” campaign urged governments, international agencies, and corporate sponsors to withdraw their support due to Azerbaijan’s record of human rights violations.
The coalition’s campaign is focused on several objectives, including raising awareness of Azerbaijan’s history of crimes against humanity, pressuring those ignoring its genocidal actions, and creating reputational risks for entities supporting Baku’s events. They are also aiming to prevent Azerbaijan’s planned invasion of Armenia, where Christians persecuted by the Azerbaijan government have taken refuge.
The campaign emphasized the importance of not allowing Azerbaijan’s disturbing human rights record to be overlooked by international conferences like COP29, requesting that potential participants and sponsors not “attend, underwrite or otherwise enable the legitimation of the Azeri regime, the greenwashing of its past genocide and the greenlighting of its promised one.”
Aiming to raise awareness, the coalition displayed key messages on mobile billboard displays in front of prominent locations in Washington, D.C., including the Capitol, the White House, the Azerbaijan Embassy, and COP29 sponsors like Meta and Amazon.
Messages displayed at these locations include “Love Jesus? Azerbaijan hates him,” and “Good with genocide? Get complicit at COP29,” among others.
The campaign has also gained momentum across social media, television, and podcasts, according to the news release.
Additionally, the coalition’s leaders have also sent letters to influential international bodies and sponsors of COP29, including President Joe Biden and U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres. The letters urge these organizations not to attend or sponsor the event, thereby preventing the legitimization of Azerbaijan’s actions on the world stage.
“Turning a blind eye to the Azeri’s desecration of ancient, holy Christian sites in Nagorno-Karabakh in the name of creating a ‘green zone’ is another example of unconscionable hypocrisy, tantamount to effectively endorsing the persecution of Christians,” the Coalition wrote to Guterres. “Their blood will be on the hands of all those who help greenwash and greenlight Azerbaijan’s genocide,” they concluded.
