UN Letter of Allegations Concerning Privacy Concerns over Azerbaijan’s MIRAS System

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The Independent Lawyers Network (ILN) prepared a letter of allegation concerning Azerbaijan’s Centralized Information and Digital Analytics System (Mərkəzləşdirilmiş İnformasiya və Rəqəmsal Analitika Sistemi, known as “MIRAS”). The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) co-signed the letter, which was submitted to the three UN Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy, free expression, and human rights defenders on 14 September 2026.

MIRAS is a state information system owned and operated by the State Security Service (“SSS”). It enables the SSS to combine, search, and analyze extensive personal data held across government databases, including information relating to identity, family connections, residence, travel, employment, health, property, religious affiliation, criminal and judicial records, and footage from the “Safe City” camera network.

The submitting organizations raise their concerns that MIRAS permits the population-wide aggregation of sensitive and wide personal data within an intelligence agency without clearly defined purposes, independent authorization, binding rules on data retention and disclosure, effective remedies, or independent oversight. These concerns have become more urgent as MIRAS has moved from formal establishment to practical integration. Following its establishment by Presidential Decree No. 533 of 21 November 2025, subsequent measures enabled data exchange with key state registries and portals, while legislation adopted in July 2026 excluded intelligence systems from important monitoring and audit mechanisms.

These concerns must be assessed against Azerbaijan’s documented record of unlawful and disproportionate surveillance, including the use of Pegasus spyware, restrictions on online expression, and mounting pressure on independent media and civil society. The communication warns that, in the absence of robust safeguards ensuring necessity and proportionality, MIRAS could facilitate arbitrary, continuous, and highly intrusive surveillance, particularly of journalists, lawyers, human rights defenders, political opponents, and civil society representatives.

📄 Read the letter