The 2026 report of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, which summarizes data from 2025, condemns Azerbaijan for the destruction of Armenian religious heritage and for numerous violations of religious freedom.

The report states that in 2025, the Azerbaijani government engaged in serious violations of religious freedom. The authorities enforced the country’s highly restrictive Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Belief, which criminalizes unregistered religious activity and grants the government full control over registered religious organizations: https://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/2026-03/USCIRF_2026_AR_3326_NEW.pdf (p. 56).

It notes that historic Armenian religious sites in Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding territories remain endangered following Azerbaijan’s establishment of control over these areas in 2020 and 2023.

As of July 2025, satellite imagery had identified eight destroyed and ten additional damaged religious monuments, including churches, cemeteries, and other cultural monuments.

In addition, relatives of Armenian prisoners report that Armenian detainees are prohibited from receiving religious items, including the Bible, although the Azerbaijani government claims that detainees have access to religious materials: https://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/2026-03/USCIRF_2026_AR_3326_NEW.pdf (p. 56).

In February, a delegation of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) traveled to Azerbaijan to assess conditions of religious freedom and meet with government officials. Although the Azerbaijani government expressed willingness to engage in dialogue, since then the country has not made any substantial progress toward implementing USCIRF’s recommendations.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has submitted recommendations to the U.S. government to keep Azerbaijan on the Special Watch List (SWL) under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) for engaging in or tolerating serious violations of religious freedom. The Commission makes such a recommendation for countries whose governments commit or tolerate serious violations of religious freedom, although such abuses have not yet reached the threshold required for designation as Countries of Particular Concern (CPCs).

According to the report, Azerbaijan, as one of the 11 countries included on this list — Algeria, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Qatar, Turkey, and Uzbekistan — is characterized by the following problems:

* discrimination against religious minorities and restrictions affecting places of worship;

* restrictions on freedom of religious expression.

In addition, the Commission recommended that the U.S. government impose targeted sanctions on Azerbaijani state agencies, such as the Main Department for Combating Organized Crime of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan, as well as on officials responsible for serious violations of religious freedom, by freezing their assets and/or barring their entry into the United States under human-rights-related financial and visa authorities, with reference to specific violations of religious freedom.

The Commission also recommended that the U.S. government enter into a memorandum of understanding between the U.S. Department of State and the Government of Azerbaijan in order to develop and implement strategies aimed at improving religious freedom and other areas of human rights in the country.

It further recommended allocating funding to programs that document and/or report on violations of religious freedom and related human rights abuses in Azerbaijan, including Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

The section of the report devoted to Azerbaijan states that the U.S. Congress should:

* impose conditions on Foreign Military Financing (FMF) and other security assistance provided to Azerbaijan, requiring specific improvements in the areas of religious freedom and related human rights;

* raise ongoing religious freedom concerns through hearings, meetings, letters, and other actions;

* advocate for the freedom of religion or belief of prisoners of conscience.