Pages 46–48 of the 2025 U.S. International Religious Freedom report are entirely devoted to violations of religious freedom in Azerbaijan, as well as to the ongoing destruction of Armenian monuments and related issues. At the outset, the report notes that religious freedom in Azerbaijan remains in a deeply deteriorated state. It also highlights incidents of Armenian heritage destruction in Nagorno-Karabakh, specifically citing that the Caucasus Heritage Watch (CHW) organization released new satellite data on endangered religious-heritage sites in and around Nagorno-Karabakh, documenting fresh cases of heritage destruction—including a 19th-century church, two cemeteries, and other cultural assets (https://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/2025-03/2025%20USCIRF%20Annual%20Report.pdf?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR7EkQzf-V4ApW21cJc9uXVP69e9rQA4TcVbdSlr7H31I8AYqsjfN0gbxfK61w_aem_QhhlIQ3MULh494sPjrlp_g).

In June 2024, the Washington-based organization Freedom House published findings that, during the 2020 and 2023 military operations, Azerbaijan executed a “comprehensive, systematic strategy to purge Nagorno-Karabakh of its indigenous Armenian population and its historical and cultural heritage.” Freedom House characterized these actions as war crimes and crimes against humanity (https://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/2025-03/2025%20USCIRF%20Annual%20Report.pdf?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR7EkQzf-V4ApW21cJc9uXVP69e9rQA4TcVbdSlr7H31I8AYqsjfN0gbxfK61w_aem_QhhlIQ3MULh494sPjrlp_g).

The report also addresses U.S. measures, stating that the Department of State should:

• Keep Azerbaijan on the Special Watch List under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA), on the grounds that the state permits serious violations of religious liberty.
• Impose targeted sanctions on Azerbaijani government entities—specifically the Main Department for Combating Organized Crime within the Ministry of Internal Affairs—and on officials responsible for severe infringements of religious freedom.
• Support the organization of independent international observers’ visits to Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent territories—for instance, under United Nations auspices—in order to inspect, document, and inventory cultural assets.

Furthermore, the report urges the U.S. Congress to:

• Conduct hearings in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and/or the House Foreign Affairs Committee aimed at shining a light on religious-freedom violations in Azerbaijan, drawing upon the findings of hearings previously convened by the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission.

A separate section of the report examines international responses and actions already undertaken. It notes, in particular, that European institutions and global human-rights organizations have repeatedly expressed concern over Azerbaijan’s human-rights record, including its violations of religious freedom. In January 2024, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) refused to credential the Azerbaijani delegation, citing human-rights abuses related to conscientious-objector prisoners and Azerbaijan’s military offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh. In that same month, PACE adopted a resolution condemning alleged systematic and widespread torture and other forms of cruel treatment.

Additionally, the Council of Europe, the U.N. Committee Against Torture, the European External Action Service, and the European Parliament have condemned Azerbaijan’s organized destruction of Armenian religious and cultural heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as its repression of civil society.

In June 2024, more than forty members of the U.S. Congress wrote to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, urging that every meeting with Azerbaijani officials raise the issue of destroyed Armenian cultural heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh—emphasizing Baku’s actions against churches, monasteries, and other religious sites.

In September 2024, Republican Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) chaired a Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission hearing focused on human-rights conditions in Azerbaijan, including the plight of endangered religious sites in Nagorno-Karabakh.

On December 29, 2023, the U.S. State Department again listed Azerbaijan on the “Special Watch List” under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) for egregious violations of religious liberties (https://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/2025-03/2025%20USCIRF%20Annual%20Report.pdf?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR7EkQzf-V4ApW21cJc9uXVP69e9rQA4TcVbdSlr7H31I8AYqsjfN0gbxfK61w_aem_QhhlIQ3MULh494sPjrlp_g).