International rights groups launch online video-game: Now everyone can feel themselves as Azerbaijani political prisoner
Reporters Without Borders sent an open letter to the sponsors of the European Games in Baku urging them not to turn a blind eye to violations of freedom of information for the sake of their economic interests and to formally request the release of the 12 journalists and bloggers detained in Azerbaijan.
“Within a few days you will be in the spotlight as official sponsors and partners of the first-ever European Olympic Games, in Baku, Azerbaijan. <…>But should you let your economic interests blind you to the issue of human rights? Should you ignore the violations of fundamental freedoms that the host country has been committing with impunity for years?” RWB asked.
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) calls on the international community to organize a Twitter campaign in defiance of the arrested journalists in Azerbaijan during the European Games and urge the government of that country to free the incarcerated journalists. “With about 1,300 international journalists due to cover the Games in Baku from June 12 to 28, the press has a unique opportunity to scrutinize this censored and restricted country,” CPJ says.
Rachel Denber, deputy Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said that “government repression is making the European Games historic for all the wrong reasons.” In recent weeks Azerbaijani authorities denied or failed to provide required press accreditation and visas to at least three foreign journalists with European media outlets. “Media freedom is a central pillar of the Olympic movement,” Denber said. “By denying visas to reporters covering the games, Azerbaijan and President Aliyev are rejecting one of the basic rules for hosting the event. The EOC and International Olympic Committee should demand a full explanation and reversal of these actions.”
The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) launches “REAL BAKU 2015,” an innovative online video game, to denounce the arbitrary imprisonment of dozens of activists detained for exercising their right to free speech.
FIDH says the catch is that in REAL BAKU 2015, the gamer’s avatar is not an athlete, but rather an Azerbaijani political prisoner. The player competes in these athletic events in a bare, cramped prison cell. After playing, users are invited to share their score on social networks so as to challenge friends and followers and support the cause of human rights.
“Very few people from outside the region are familiar with Azerbaijan, and even fewer are aware of the human rights situation there. This game uses the context of the European Games to offer a new approach to drawing the public’s attention to this dismal reality,” declared KarimLahidji, FIDH President.
The website of the Member of the European Parliament Marietje Schaake, Germany reports that she calls on European leaders not to attend official ceremonies during the European Games in Azerbaijan, until political prisoners are released.
Azerbaijan currently detains twice as many political prisoners as Russia and Belarus combined. Journalists, human rights defenders and activists are being imprisoned and do not get a fair trial, Schaake writes. “The authorities in Azerbaijan are interested in hosting major international events, in order to increase the international stature of Azerbaijan. Yet the European Games should not mask the fact that fundamental rights are systematically being violated. Activists such as LeylaYunus, who was nominated for the Sakharov Prize of the European Parliament last year, are in prison without medical care or access to a lawyer,” she added. “This is unacceptable. The label ‘European’ should have meaning, and the Games should only be organised in countries where human rights and fundamental freedoms are respected.”
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