The organization highlighted that two-thirds of the world's oil production occurs in countries where press freedom is significantly threatened. They reported that more than ten journalists, including those from "Abzas Media" and Toplum TV, have been mistreated and kept in humiliating conditions at the "Kurdakhani" detention center.

Reporters Without Borders stated human rights violations in Azerbaijan, hosting the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP29.

On November 11, a statement announced that COP29 had begun in Azerbaijan, a country rich in natural resources but notorious for its harsh restrictions on the free and independent press.

Covering the disastrous environmental, health, and climate consequences of oil and mining extraction in Azerbaijan is particularly difficult and dangerous for journalists. 

Restrictions, physical violence, and arrests: Journalists covering sensitive topics, such as the environment, face significant dangers in Azerbaijan, where over 90 percent of the country’s income is derived from oil and gas exports. In the past year, authorities have arrested around fifteen journalists for reporting. Among the thirteen media workers currently imprisoned is Nargiz Absalamova, who was investigating environmental issues, according to the statement.

The organization stressed that "setting an example in the protection of journalism, particularly environmental journalism, should be a prerequisite for hosting a UN climate conference."

"How can we accept that a petro-state that imprisons independent journalists is the host of negotiations that will determine the future of global climate?" - said Janna Cavelye, head of RSF's Eastern Europe and Central Asia office.

Reporters Without Borders called on the international community to release the journalists imprisoned by the Azerbaijani authorities, end gross violations of press freedom and defend independent journalism. It noted that it is particularly difficult and dangerous for journalists to cover the disastrous ecological, health, and climate consequences of oil and mining production in Azerbaijan.

"Detained since November 30, 2023, on false charges of “foreign currency smuggling,” Nargiz Absalamova was working for Abzas Media, one of the few remaining independent media outlets in the country. In June 2023, she reported on protests by residents of Söyüdlü, a village in western Azerbaijan affected by toxic waste from an open-pit gold mine. They were protesting against a new artificial lake project intended to collect cyanide- and arsenic-contaminated runoff from mining operations. Police brutally dispersed the peaceful crowd and violently expelled three journalists, including Nargiz Absalamova. Her colleague Elmaddin Shamilzade was later harassed, tortured, and threatened with sexual violence in an attempt to force him to reveal his phone’s access code and delete photos from the protest" - according to the statement. 

it was added that "to date, Absalamova, along with four colleagues from Abzas Media and eight other independent journalists, including from Toplum TV, are enduring mistreatment or humiliating detention conditions in prison, as regularly reported by Abzas Media’s editor-in-chief, Sevinj Vagifgizi, her fellow detainee at the Kurdakhani detention center. Absalamova, facing up to 12 years in prison, is being denied visits from her family."

At the end of the statement, it is noted, referring to the latest global analysis published by RSF, that "according to a recent global analysis published by RSF, two-thirds of the world’s oil is extracted in countries where press freedom is severely threatened. A textbook case of an extractive state where environmental journalism is harshly repressed, Azerbaijan ranks among the worst countries for press freedom, coming in at 164th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2024 World Press Freedom Index."