The 9th meeting of the European Union (EU) Sub-Committee on Justice, Freedom and Security, Human Rights and Democracy was held online on April 26-27, 2021. The meeting was co-chaired by Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud-Mammad-Guliyev of Azerbaijan and Richard Tibbels, Head of Bilateral Relations with the Eastern Partnership of the European External Action Service.

   The meeting was attended by representatives of relevant government agencies of the Republic of Azerbaijan, as well as representatives of the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights, and the EU External Action Service, the European Commission's General Directorate for Enlargement, the General Directorate for Migration and Internal Affairs, the General Directorate  for Justice and Consumer Affairs , the General Directorate of Employement and  Social Affairs, as well as the EU Delegation to Azerbaijan.

   On the first day of the event, the parties discussed civil, economic, political and social rights in the field of human rights and democracy; discussions were held on the national framework for the protection of human rights, as well as cooperation in international human rights forums.

   The next day continued with an exchange of views on a number of issues of mutual interest in the field of justice, freedom and security, including the illicit trafficking of drugs and psychotropic substances. The discussions focused on the reforms carried out by the Deputy Head of the Permanent Working Group of the State Commission in the fight against drug trafficking and psychotropic substances and their precursors in Azerbaijan, changes in legislation in this area, as well as measures taken in this direction last year and gave information  on the statistics of detected crimes and confiscated drugs.