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It is an increasingly common phenomenon for repressive countries with dismal human rights records to host major international forums – whether it is in sports, entertainment or in politics. The recent addition to the list of such countries is Azerbaijan – a country with a particularly dismal record on human rights, which will host the next year's annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF), says Paula Schriefer, Director of Advocacy of Freedom House, on the website of the organization.

In Shriefer's opinion, although IGF is not as large-scale as the Olympics and unlike a regional summit on security and cooperation, it will not draw the attention of high-level government officials, yet holding of a such forum in country like Azerbaijan is particularly bitter pill to swallow. Azerbaijan received a 79 out of a worst possible 100 points in Freedom House's Freedom of the Press survey – country's status is Not Free and the environment for freedom of expression is described as “dire.”

According to the Freedom House's survey, violence against journalists in Azerbaijan has not abated, the media is harassed with impunity, and the journalists and the bloggers who express dissenting opinions are being accused of libel and imprisoned by the Azerbaijani authorities – a method frequently used by the government for political gains.

In addition to this, although Azerbaijan has received a Partly Free rating in terms of Internet freedom, however, the studies show that the government increases its control over the Internet, vivid evidence of which is the well-publicized case of bloggers Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade, who were convicted and jailed on dubious “hooliganism” charges after posting a video on YouTube that satirized the government of Azerbaijan.

This is not a pretty picture and certainly not a conducive environment for such an event as the Internet Governance Forum, which was characterized by its multistakeholder approach to the issues on Internet, says Pauls Schriefer. “Civil society groups have already begun to lobby to ensure that Azerbaijan maintains a multistakeholder approach and does not penalize its own citizens for opinions they may express at the meeting”, says the expert, adding that if Azerbaijan does not live up to these obligations, it will provide an opportunity to draw international society's attention on human rights issues in the country.

As said in the publication, the oil wealth of Azerbaijan has so far shielded the country from serious criticism by democratic countries despite the evidence of human rights abuse documented by domestic and foreign human rights monitors. “And the country’s leadership clearly sees the hosting of the IGF as a way to garner legitimacy as an accepted player in the international arena. It will surely attempt to use the forum as a screen to obscure the messages of its human rights critics at home and abroad. We now have our work cut out for us to make sure that this effort does not succeed,” says Paula Schriefer at the end.