Azernews.Az

The State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations of Azerbaijan has expressed its position on the U.S. Department of State's International Religious Freedom report, covering the period from July to December 2010.

Azerbaijan is trying to promote and protect in everyday life the freedom of speech and expression, the principles of religious freedom. The government pays special attention to the work being done in this sphere, and supports all efforts aimed at protecting religious freedom in the country and around the world, the State Committee said on Friday.

"From this point of view, we consider the U.S. Department of State's International Religious Freedom report as one of efforts to protect human rights, and commend this initiative," the Committee said.

At the same time, the State Committee considers it necessary to clarify a number of issues in the report related to Azerbaijan, including registration of religious organizations, wearing of hijab and restriction of sale of religious literature in the subway.

"Unfortunately, as the analysis of these issues indicates, in many cases, the document reflects inaccurate information. Given the previous reports of the Department, it should be noted that sometimes the facts are taken from unreliable sources, are not specified and are included in the document without checking," the Committee said.

Some parts of the report does not reflect objective, real analysis of the religious situation in Azerbaijan: it provides common words and assessment, unfounded opinions and information taken from last year's report.

"Unfortunately, as a whole the report does not reflect the real situation in Azerbaijan and is superficial," the Committee said.