Jehovah’s Witnesses were first registered in Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan, in 1999 and were granted reregistration in 2002. The Witnesses had a measure of religious freedom but were subjected to tight government control, including police raids on religious meetings and censorship of literature.

Then in May 2009, the State Committee for Work with Religious Associations (SCWRA) introduced amendments to the Law on Freedom of Religious Beliefs. When the Witnesses attempted to reregister in 2010, the SCWRA rejected their application on technical grounds, thus leaving the Witnesses’ religious community in Baku without full legal status. This exposed the Witnesses to further violations of their religious freedom.

In a positive turn of events, the SCWRA stopped denying the importation of the Witnesses’ literature in 2015. The Witnesses have also been able to host large religious assemblies since 2016. Notably, on November 8, 2018, the SCWRA granted Jehovah’s Witnesses full legal registration in Baku. It is hoped that the Baku registration will set a precedent for approving pending applications in other cities.

Some violations of religious freedom remain. Despite Azerbaijan’s commitments to the Council of Europe, the government has failed to provide for alternative civilian service. As a result, young male Witnesses are sometimes harassed and prosecuted for their conscientious objection to military service.

To address the violations the Witnesses have experienced over the years, they have filed 18 applications with the European Court of Human Rights and 11 complaints with the UN Human Rights Committee. Representatives of Jehovah’s Witnesses engage in ongoing discussions with governmental authorities in Azerbaijan in an effort to resolve these issues and establish for their peaceful community basic religious freedoms.