The 23rd OSCE Ministerial Council kicked off in Hamburg

Human rights defender Ahmad Shahidov has held a number of meetings within the framework of the 23rd OSCE Ministerial Council

The 23rd OSCE Ministerial Council kicked off in Hamburg, Germany on 8-9 December. Foreign Ministers of 57 participating States, representatives of OSCE institutions and OSCE executive structures, inter-governmental organizations and civil society, legal professionals and researchers presented in Hamburg.

The two-day meeting focused on the activities carried out during Germany’s chairmanship, as well as the existing conflicts in the OSCE area including the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The Council also set the course for the future work of the OSCE with Austria taking over the chairmanship from 2017.

Meeting of the Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers, as well as three OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict took place on the sidelines of the meeting.

Attending the 23rd OSCE Ministerial Council in Hamburg, Head of Azerbaijan Institute for Democracy and Human Rights Ahmad Shahidov has held a number of meetings with diplomats from different countries and gave detailed information about the Nagornoy Karabakh conflict. In contact with European journalists, human rights defender spoke about Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Gouliyev – hostages from Kalbajar region and said that the judicial hearing on them in Nagornoy Karabakh is contrary to international law.