Third Republic Platform

11/2024                                                                               08 November 2024

The Statement of the Third Republic Platform on the 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) in the framework of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC) that will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan, from 11 to 22 November 2024

(short title: ResPlatform’s COP29 Statement)

The Third Republic Platform:

- Affirming Clause 1 of our Platform's statute establishes us as a political initiative driven by those with a deep understanding of the country's core issues and solutions, seeking political participation and public endorsement to address them,

- Guided by our Founding Declaration and Post-Karabakh Agenda, which centrally concerns mitigating the damage of climate change, especially in the agricultural sector, as outlined in Clause 2 of our statute,

- Noting that the Third Republic Platform is the sole political organisation in Azerbaijan's landscape advocating a green agenda,

- Emphasizing that the Paris Agreement's Preamble acknowledges states' duty to respect, promote and consider human rights in climate action,

- Reminding of the binding principles of treaty law – pacta sunt servanda and good faith – that apply to the UNFCCC and related agreements, and thus Azerbaijan's corresponding human rights obligations,

- Observing the severe deterioration of human rights in Azerbaijan, with an unprecedented crackdown by the government on political opposition, independent civil society, and critical media since November 2023 – including the arbitrary detention of numerous politicians, activists, and journalists on trumped-up charges, as documented by international human rights groups,

Stressing the arbitrary detention since March 2024 of Akif Gurbanov, our Platform's Speaker and Leader, and Ruslan Izzatli, our Board member – founders of Azerbaijan's first and only green-focused political organisation:

We DECLARE, urging COP participant states and international NGOs within their mandates and their representatives:

1. COP participants must meaningfully acknowledge the integral links between climate change and human rights and conduct COP29 activities with this framework in mind.

2. COP participants should publicly and unequivocally condemn Azerbaijan's severe human rights deterioration and demand the reversal of this worsening situation.

3. COP participants should name the victims of repression, like Akif Gurbanov and Ruslan Izzatli, in their statements and speeches, calling for their unconditional release and full rights restoration.

4. COP participants should visit these victims of repression in their detention facilities.

5. After COP29, participants should continue raising these issues in the follow-up year.