- Alcaraz breezes into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Gaza cultural heritage brought to light in Geneva
- 'Bullet for democracy': Trump returns to site of rally shooting
- Italy targets climate activists in 'anti-Gandhi' demo clampdown
- South Korean cult-horror series 'Hellbound' returns at BIFF
- Nepalis fear more floods as climate change melts glaciers
- Honduras arrests environmentalist's alleged murderer
- Padres pitcher Musgrove needs elbow surgery
- Supreme Court lets stand rules to curb mercury, methane emissions
- Boston beat Denver in NBA exhibition season opener, but Jokic says omens are good
- Chagos diaspora angry at lack of input on islands' fate
- Biden says 'not confident' of peaceful US election
- US trade chief defends tariff hikes when paired with investment
- Lukaku stars as Napoli beat Como to hold Serie A top spot
- Ohtani set for MLB playoff debut as Dodgers face Padres
- Pogba's drug ban cut to 18 months from four years
- Devine leads New Zealand to big win over India in Women's T20 World Cup
- Bosnia floods kill 16 people
- EU court blocks French ban on vegetable 'steak' labelling
- Prosecutors seek dismissal of rape charges against French rugby players
- Meta AI turns pictures into videos with sound
- Bolivia's Morales says claims he raped a minor are a 'lie'
- MLB Reds hire two-time champion Francona as manager
- Daniel Maldini receives first Italy call-up for Nations League
- US dockworkers return to ports after three-day strike
- Ancelotti points finger at Madrid's 'lack of intensity'
- Haiti reeling after 70 killed in gang attack
- Five Czech kids in hospital over TikTok 'piercing challenge'
- What happens next in Iran-Israel conflict?
- Country star Garth Brooks denies rape accusations
- Stubbs hits maiden century as South Africa make 343-4 against Ireland
- DR Congo to begin mpox vaccination campaign Saturday in east
- Odegaard injury has forced Arsenal to be 'different', says Arteta
- Ratcliffe refuses to guarantee Ten Hag's Man Utd future
- Meta must limit data use for targeted ads: EU court
- Mauritius to hold legislative election on November 10
- Britain qualify for America's Cup final after 60-year wait
- IMF asks Sri Lanka to protect hard-won gains
- Morata returns to Spain Nations League squad after injury
- Irish regulator to probe Ryanair use of facial recognition
- Public allowed to see video evidence in France mass rape trial
- US hiring soars past expectations in sign of resilient market
- Under-fire Ten Hag 'together' with Man Utd hierarchy
- Guardiola talks of Man City love affair as financial hearing rumbles on
- De Bruyne out of Belgium Nations League squad
- Japanese trainer Yahagi hopes Shin Emperor achieves 50-year-old Arc dream
- UK's Starmer hails 'landmark' carbon capture funding
- As EU targets Chinese cars, European rivals sputter
- Bosnia floods kill 14 people
- Tennis world number one Swiatek splits with coach Wiktorowski
'Vanity project': a climate summit in oil-rich Azerbaijan
The decision to hold a climate summit in oil-and-gas-producer Azerbaijan, which will be hosting the COP29 UN Climate Change Conference this year, has puzzled many environmental groups.
But the tightly controlled energy-rich Caspian nation is seeking to change its reputation as a polluting authoritarian state.
Baku has in recent years organised numerous high-profile international events, which experts say are aimed at bringing prestige to the country ruled with an iron fist by President Ilham Aliyev.
Baku has hosted matches in the Euro 2020 football championship, as well as the Formula 1 Grand Prix, plus the 2021 Eurovision song contest -- all of which brought international attention to the country, whose reputation is tarnished by massive rights violations.
"These are vanity projects for Azerbaijani leadership," Giorgi Gogia, Human Rights Watch associate director for the Caucasus, told AFP.
"Azerbaijan really cares for its international image and prestige, and is really willing to host mega events to whitewash its abysmal rights record," he added.
The latest international event -- the COP29 climate conference which will kick off in Baku in November -- will be held just over a year after its lightning Nagorno-Karabakh offensive.
In September 2023, Baku's troops recaptured the enclave from Armenian separatists who had controlled it for decades.
The region's entire ethnic Armenian population -- more than 100,000 people -- fled in the aftermath.
And while Azerbaijan gears up to host COP29, it orchestrated yet another crackdown on independent media, arresting several critical journalists who have exposed high-level graft.
- 'Centre of universe' -
Ilham Aliyev has been in power since 2003, when he succeeded his father Heydar, and is poised for an easy re-election for his fifth consecutive term on Wednesday.
The snap polls have been boycotted by the main opposition parties.
By hosting prestigious events like COP29, Baku also seeks to assert itself as a "key state in the region" where traditional powers Russia, Turkey and Iran compete for domination, said Azerbaijani analyst Elhan Shaynoglu.
In December, Aliyev said that Azerbaijan's hosting of the COP29 is proof of the "huge confidence and deep respect" of the international community towards the country.
"Baku will be the centre of the universe for two weeks," he said.
Since winning its COP29 bid, the ex-Soviet republic has already got a taste of heightened international attention -- and not always the kind it wants.
The hydrocarbon industry dominates the Azerbaijani economy with hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil produced a day and billions of cubic metres of natural gas exported annually.
Baku now aims to double gas exports to Europe, which is trying to reduce its energy dependence on Russia since the Ukraine invasion, by 2027.
Azerbaijan remains "extremely dependent on oil and gas production," accounting for 92 percent of its export revenues, according to a 2023 report by the US State Department.
It will be the second year in a row that the COP29 will be hosted by an oil giant, with the 2023 conference held in the United Arab Emirates.
Adding to the controversy, the presidency of the conference has been entrusted to Mukhtar Babayev, a former employee of Azerbaijan's state oil company, SOCAR.
"There is a major conflict of interest, for the second consecutive year," said Romain Ioualalen of the Oil Change International NGO.
- 'Risky gamble' -
Ioualalen said Azerbaijan hosting the conference was a "risky gamble" for the Caspian country, which might backfire as it will be "closely watched" on its climate policy this year.
"Azerbaijan has expansion plans, especially in gas production, which are not at all compatible with the Paris Agreement, which it must implement as the president of COP, setting specific targets for limiting climate change," he said.
Beyond environmental concerns, the Oil Change International calls for human rights respect be imposed on countries hosting a COP.
"Such an important conversation cannot take place if civil society does not have the assurance of expressing its opinions," said Ioualalen.
Last summer, rare protests in a remote village in western Azerbaijan against the pollution from a British mining company ended with arrests, according to local media.
Gogia of Human Rights Watch hopes that the international community will make use of the event to exert pressure on Azerbaijan, and aim to secure the release of political prisoners.
"What kind of climate conference will be legitimate without independent voices?"
P.Queiroz--PC