{"id":32180,"date":"2016-11-25T15:00:46","date_gmt":"2016-11-25T15:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/?p=32180"},"modified":"2016-11-25T15:00:46","modified_gmt":"2016-11-25T15:00:46","slug":"human-rights-report-quashed-in-push-for-azerbaijan-eu-gas-pipeline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2016\/11\/25\/human-rights-report-quashed-in-push-for-azerbaijan-eu-gas-pipeline\/","title":{"rendered":"Human rights report quashed in push for Azerbaijan-EU gas pipeline"},"content":{"rendered":"

A report looking into human rights abuse in Azerbaijan may have been rejected to smooth\u00a0the way for gas trading\u00a0with Europe, its author has said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The report was voted down in the Council of Europe on 23 January 2013. On 28 June of the same year, the European Commission gave the go-ahead to a pipeline joining Azerbaijan with southern Italy, known as the Southern Gas Corridor. On 11 August, the Italian prime minister Enrico Letta visited the Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev in Baku<\/a>.<\/p>\n

German Social Democrat Christoph Strasser, who wrote the report when he was his country’s human rights commissioner, said: \u201cI would be surprised if there wasn\u2019t a connection between these events. By rejecting my report Azerbaijan saved its reputation and nobody had nothing to say when they started doing business [in Europe].\u201d<\/p>\n

Weekly briefing:<\/strong>\u00a0Sign up for your essential climate politics update<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Strasser was speaking to Italy’s RAI (Radiotelevisione Italiana) programme “Report”, for the Caviar Democracy episo which aired on 21 November 2016.<\/p>\n

The report was rejected under unusual circumstances, according to some observers. Several MPs, including Azerbaijan\u2019s Naira Karapetyan, noted that a number of new faces from Russia, Turkey, Spain and Italy were present on the board for the first time – to vote down the report – and were never seen again at the Council of Europe.<\/p>\n

Strasser reported political pressure from the Azerbaijani government, who denied him the visa to enter the country while he was researching for his report. \u201cIt was the first time that an MP tasked with writing a report was denied access [to a relevant country]\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

What is the Southern Gas Corridor?<\/strong><\/p>\n

BP calls it<\/a>\u00a0\u201carguably the global oil and gas industry\u2019s most significant and ambitious undertaking yet”. It is a three part pipeline that, if completed, will carry gas from the\u00a0Shah Deniz 2\u00a0oil field in Azerbaijan’s Caspian Sea through Georgia, Turkey, Greece, Albania into southern Italy.<\/p>\n

The pipeline is supposed to reduce the EU’s dependence on Russian gas. Campaigners argue that it is likely to become a stranded asset as gas demand in Europe is predicted to remain stagnant<\/a>. Many\u00a0have raised concerns about deepening Europe’s financial and political cooperation\u00a0with the autocratic\u00a0Aliyev regime.<\/p>\n

Total cost: Estimated at US$45bn<\/p>\n

Timeframe: Construction is underway, due to be completed by\u00a02020<\/p>\n

Sections:<\/p>\n