Azerbaijan, Hosting This Year's Useless Global Climate Talks, Blocks Journalists From Energy Conference

Western journalists were refused entry to an energy industry conference in Azerbaijan earlier this month, reigniting concerns over the state’s crackdown on the media ahead of crucial UN climate talks in Baku later this year.

At least three journalists from the UK and France have told the Guardian that they felt “unsafe” after they were denied entry to the Baku Energy Week forum, despite registering with the event organisers weeks in advance. The journalists said they were not given a valid reason why they had been turned away, but they chose to leave the venue after “frightening” and “intimidating” encounters with the organisers.

The conference was held shortly before research by Human Rights Watch revealed at least 25 instances of the arrest or sentencing of journalists and activists in Azerbaijan over the past year, almost all of whom remain in custody. Campaigners and civil society groups have raised concerns that climate advocacy is being stifled ahead of the UN Cop29 climate talks that will take place in Baku later this year.

Laurence Walker and Christopher Eales, both senior investigative journalists at Montel News, an energy newswire, told the Guardian that they were turned away from the Baku Energy Week conference and an exhibition venue despite confirming their registration with the event organisers in mid-May. Another UK-based journalist, who has written critically about the Azerbaijan government in the past and has asked not to be identified, was also denied access to the events despite receiving accreditation weeks ahead of the event. The journalists left the venue after overhearing an organiser say “take them away” in Russian while on the phone. They said they believed that this was a call to the venue’s security personnel.

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https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/28/journalists-refused-entry-to-azerbaijan-energy-conference-ahead-of-cop29