Azerbaijan was in the spotlight of OSCE's Human Dimension Implementation Meeting (HDIM) that kicked off Monday, September 21 in Warsaw, Contact.az reports.

The Human Dimension Implementation Meeting (HDIM) of the OSCE participating states is Europe's largest annual human rights and democracy conference. It is organized every year by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) as a platform for 57 OSCE participating states, Partners for Co-operation, OSCE structures, civil society, international organizations and other relevant actors to take stock of the implementation of the OSCE human dimension commitments, discuss associated challenges, share good practices and make recommendations for further improvement. In view of its violations of Fundamental Human and Civil Rights and Freedoms and Obligations, Azerbaijan was thoroughly discussed at the conference.

Azerbaijan also became the only country, against which an international group of civic activists held a protest in the courtroom, wearing T-shirts with photos of political prisoners.

At the meeting, the official representative of Azerbaijan and a number of pro-government NGO leaders characterized the criticism as “biased,” citing human rights abuses in Western Europe and the United States. They noted, in particular, the intolerance towards migrants and pressure on journalists.

Although European politicians focused on a large-scale refugee influx from the Middle East and Asia to EU, more attention was paid to the human dimension of overriding principles: freedom of expression and freedom of information and the press.

Earlier, Azerbaijan suspended inter-parliamentary cooperation with the European Union, following a recently adopted resolution urging the country to free political prisoners.