Day: June 6, 2024
Armenia among countries with lowest prison incarnation rates – Council of Europe – Public Radio of Armenia Public Radio of Armenia – Official Web site
Oil from Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) is now being supplied to MOL Group’s refineries in Hungary and Slovakia, Senior Vice President for E&P Operations at MOL Group Ádám Homonnay said during the “Exploration and Production Opportunities in the Caspian Region” panel at the 29th Baku Energy Forum, according to Azerbaijan in Focus, reporting Trend.
“With oil already reaching our refineries in Hungary and Slovakia, ACG is vital to our operations in Azerbaijan. Maintaining long-term ties in Azerbaijan as a trusted and productive partner is MOL’s top priority,” he noted.
To note, BP Exploration (Caspian Sea) Ltd. operates on behalf of the contracting parties of the ACG Production Sharing Agreement.
The stakes in ACG are as follows: bp (30.37 percent), SOCAR (25.0 percent), MOL (9.57 percent), INPEX (9.31 percent), Equinor (7.27 percent), ExxonMobil (6.79 percent), TPAO (5.73 percent), ITOCHU (3.65 percent), and ONGC Videsh (2.31 percent).
The Baku Energy Forum is supported by the Ministry of Energy of Azerbaijan, with the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) as the main partner. For the first time, the forum is being held with the support of OPEC.
More than 600 delegates are participating in the forum, which started on June 5. In addition to Azerbaijan, representatives from Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, the UK, Hungary, Georgia, Israel, India, Italy, Kazakhstan, Qatar, China, Latvia, Monaco, the Netherlands, Norway, the UAE, Russia, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Slovenia, the US, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Finland, France, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Sweden, and Japan will also be present. This year, the forum has a record number of speakers – 81.
The forum’s agenda includes critical energy issues for both Azerbaijan and the entire Caspian region. Key points on the agenda focus on reviewing and financing projects related to energy security, the energy transition, and green energy.
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The chairmanship of the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic States (TURKPA) has been transferred from Türkiye to Azerbaijan, according to Azerbaijan in Focus, reporting AzerTac.
Such a decision was made during the 13th meeting of the TURKPA Council held in Baku.
Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye Numan Kurtulmus handed over the chairmanship of TURKPA to Speaker of Azerbaijan’s Mİlli Majlis of Sahiba Gafarova.
The post Chairmanship of TURKPA passes from Türkiye to Azerbaijan appeared first on Azerbaijan In Focus.
The Euronews TV channel’s website has published an article headlined “Azerbaijan and UAE launch joint renewable energy project as COP29 preparations underway”, according to Azerbaijan in Focus, reporting AzerTac.
The article reads: “Azerbaijan and the UAE unveiled plans for three large-scale solar and wind projects in Azerbaijan, totaling 1 GW capacity, during a ceremony held at the Baku Energy Forum.
Azerbaijan and the United Arab Emirates announced the joint decision to build three major solar and wind projects in Azerbaijan with a capacity of 1 GW, with a ground-breaking ceremony on the sidelines of the Baku Energy Forum on Tuesday.
Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan told Euronews this event “actually demonstrates our green agenda and also demonstrates that our position is attractive not only for those who invest in fossil fuels, but also for those who invest in renewables. Masdar is our strategic partner in the area of renewable energy.”
The projects include a 445 MW solar plant in Bilasuvar, a 315 MW solar plant in Neftchala, and a 240 MW wind farm in Absheron-Garadagh. The plants are expected to produce an average annual output of a total of 2 billion 3025 million kWh of electricity, in turn saving 496 million cubic metres of natural gas per year and preventing more than 943 thousand tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.
Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, Chairman of Masdar and COP28 President said in his address, “We are proud to partner with Azerbaijan on this significant expansion of its renewable energy capacity and to support Azerbaijan’s journey toward energy diversification, stimulating new industries, new jobs and sustainable economic growth.”
The announcement comes as Azerbaijan prepares to host COP29 in Baku in November taking over the mantle from the UAE. Sultan Al Jaber added, “A key pillar of the historic UAE consensus is the goal of tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030. We need many more partnerships like these to ensure a just, orderly and equitable energy transition that keeps 1.5 within reach.”
His comments resonated heavily with President Aliyev who also told Euronews, “It really demonstrates how a country which generated wealth from fossil fuels now is channelling this wealth into the renewable energy and as a host country of Cop 29, this is also our obligation to be among the frontrunners on the green transition.”
There were also calls for switching to cleaner energy solutions, advancements in AI as well as ensuring economic growth in developing countries to help accelerate climate positive sustainable development, as over 300 companies from 37 countries came together for one of the most important events on the global energy sector calendar.”
The post Euronews publishes article on launch of joint renewable energy project between Azerbaijan and UAE appeared first on Azerbaijan In Focus.
The State Service for Special Communications and Information Security is taking significant steps to guarantee information security during the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29), scheduled to be held in Baku this November.
In preparation for the high-profile…
Prison overcrowding continues to be an acute and persistent problem in a significant number of European prison administrations, according to the Council of Europe’s Annual Penal Statistics on Prison Populations (SPACE I) for 2023, released today. In countries with over 500,000 inhabitants, twelve prison administrations reported having more inmates than places available in January 2023.
For Armenia, the total number of inmates was 2,357 persons.
Incarceration rates (number of inmates per 100,000 inhabitants)
From 31 January 2022 to 31 January 2023, the median incarceration rate grew by 2.4% in countries exceeding one million inhabitants.
The countries with the highest incarceration rates were Turkey (408 inmates per 100,000 inhabitants), Georgia (256), Azerbaijan (244), the Republic of Moldova (242), Hungary (211), Poland (194), the Slovak Republic (183), Albania (179), Czechia (176), Lithuania (174) and Latvia (172). Other countries with high incarceration rates were Montenegro (168), Serbia (162), Estonia (151), North Macedonia (142).
Not taking into account countries with less than 500,000 inhabitants, the lowest incarceration rates were found in the prison administrations of Finland (52), the Netherlands (52), Norway (55), Germany (67), Slovenia (68), Denmark (71), Switzerland (73), Armenia (79), Sweden (80) and Ireland (85).
In countries with over 500,000 inhabitants, the prison administrations where the incarceration rate grew the most as compared to the previous report were the Republic of Moldova (+52.1%), North Macedonia (+25.5%), Cyprus (+24.8%), Turkey (+15%), Azerbaijan (+12.5%), Ireland (+11.7%), Montenegro (+11.3%), Armenia (+10.6%), Croatia (+10.4%), Hungary (+8.7%), Northern Ireland (UK) (+8.3%), Georgia (+8.2%), Bulgaria (+8.1%), Austria (+6.8%), Italy (+5.7%), and Sweden (5.1%).
Of the prison administrations of countries with a population exceeding 500,000 inhabitants, only those of Lithuania (-8.9%), Estonia (-8.8%) and Greece (-5.2%) reported a noteworthy decrease in their incarceration rates.
In other 23 prison administrations, the prison population rates remained stable (with small increases or decreases): Finland (+4.7%), Serbia (+4.2%), Portugal (+3.5%), UK (England and Wales) (+3%), Slovenia (+2.1%), Poland (+1.8%), Switzerland (+1.7%), Albania (+1.6%), Belgium (+1.4%), Denmark (+1.1%), Czechia (+0.8%), Romania (0.0%), Latvia (-0.4%), Germany (-0.5%), France (-0.5%), Spain (State administration) (-0.8%), Ukraine (-0.9%), Spain (-1.3%), Norway (-1.3%), Slovakia (-1.8%), Scotland (UK) (-1.9%), Netherlands (-2.6%) and Spain (Catalonia) (-4.1%).
Prison density – overcrowding
Overall, in Europe, median prison density decreased by 2% from January 2022 to January 2023 from 91.6 to 93.5 inmates per 100 places available in the 37 prison administrations that participated in both years’ surveys.
Seven prison administrations reported a prison density of more than 105 inmates per 100 places, an indicator of severe overcrowding: Cyprus (166 inmates per 100 places), Romania (120 inmates per 100 places), France (119), Belgium (115), Hungary (112), Italy (109) and Slovenia (107).
Other prison administrations with very high prison density were Greece (103 inmates per 100 places available), Sweden (102), North Macedonia (101), Croatia (101), Türkiye (100), Ireland (99), Portugal (98), Finland (97), Denmark (97), England and Wales (UK) (97) and Azerbaijan (96).
In prison administrations of countries exceeding 500,000 inhabitants, prison density was the lowest in Ukraine (48 inmates per 100 available places), Armenia (53), Spain (State Administration (60), Estonia (68), Bulgaria (69), Lithuania (69). Other prison administrations had the prison density was the following: Luxembourg (71), Germany (78), Montenegro (78), Spain (Catalonia) (78), Norway (80), Georgia (82), Poland (83), Northern Ireland (UK) (85), Slovakia (85), Albania (87).
Women inmates
As of 31 January 2023, 5 out of 100 inmates in Europe was a woman. The prison administrations of countries with more than 500,000 inhabitants where the proportion was the highest were Cyprus (9.2%), Czechia (8.5%), Latvia (7,7%), Finland (7.7%), Hungary (7.4%), and Spain (State administration) (7.2%), Slovak Republic (7.2%) and Portugal (7,2%).
The prison administrations where the percentage of women inmates was the lowest were Albania (1.3%), Croatia (1,9%), Armenia (2.6%, 61 female prisoners), Azerbaijan (2.9%), France (3,2%) and Georgia (3,4%).
Foreigners
Overall, in Europe – on 31 January 2023 – 27% of the prison population were foreigners (the European average). Prison administrations with the highest proportions of foreign inmates in countries with over 500,000inhabitants were Luxembourg (78%), Switzerland (71%), Greece (57%), Cyprus (55%), Austria (51%), Belgium (42%), Germany (40%), Slovenia (34%), Estonia (33%), Italy (32%), Spain (30%) and Denmark (29%).
Prison administrations with the lowest percentage of foreign inmates were Romania (1,1%), Republic of Moldova (1.5%), Azerbaijan (1,9%), Ukraine (2,1%), Latvia (2,4%), Poland (2.6%) and Albania (2.8%).
There were 177 foreigners (male and female) among inmates in Armenia (6,2% of all the prison population).
Pre-trial detainees
On 31 January 2023, on average, almost one third of inmates in European prisons was in pre-trial detention. In countries with over 500,000 inhabitants, the prison administrations with the highest proportions of pre-trial detainees were Albania (55%), Armenia (53%), Luxembourg (49%), Switzerland (46%), the Netherlands (45%), Montenegro (42%) and Northern Ireland (41%).
The prison administrations with the lowest percentages of pre-trial detainees were Czechia (7.5%), Poland (11.4%), Lithuania (11.2%), Romania (12.1%), North Macedonia (12.3%), Slovak Republic (14.6%), Spain (State Administration) (15.9%) and Estonia (16.8%).
Length of imprisonment
In 2022, the median average length of imprisonment in European prison administrations was 10.1 months. Prison administrations from countries with more than 500,000 inhabitants with the highest average length of imprisonment were Portugal (30.2 months), Azerbaijan (27.2), Ukraine (26.1), Republic of Moldova (25.3), Romania (24), Czechia (22), Lithuania (20.5), Spain (State Administration) (19.7), Estonia (19.2), Greece (18.4) and Armenia (18).
The prison administrations from countries with over 500,000 inhabitants which had the lowest average length of imprisonment were Switzerland (2.1), Luxembourg (3.7), North Macedonia (3), Netherlands (4.2), Germany (4.4), Northern Ireland (UK) (4.9).
Suicides
The median suicide rate in European prisons in 2022 was 5.3 suicides per 10,000 inmates. The prison administrations in countries with over 500,000 inhabitants with the highest suicide rates were Latvia (21.7), Switzerland (20.2), France (19.1), Scotland (UK) (18.9), Spain (Catalonia) (16.8), Italy (15), Belgium (14.3), Luxembourg (14.2) and Slovenia (13.9).
In Armenia in prison administrations the suicide rate was (12.7 per 10,000 inmates)
Offences
On 31 January 2023, drug-related offences continued to be the most common main conviction among prisoners; these offenders constituted 18.5% of the prison population, followed by homicide or attempted homicide (12.8%), theft (11.5%), robbery (7.7%), assault and battery (6.7%), sexual offences excluding rape (4.6%), rape (4.3%), economic or financial crimes (3%) road traffic offences (3%) in the 45 prison administrations that provided this data.
In nine countries over 500,000 inhabitants, more one quarter or more of all inmates had been convicted for drug-related offences: Latvia (42%), Azerbaijan (42%), Türkiye (34%), Italy (31%), Belgium (29%), Serbia (29%), Denmark (27%), Sweden (25%) and Malta (25%).
There is no information in the report about the breakdown of inmates by offences in Armenia.