Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

The 12^th Baku International Conference of Ombudsmen on "The role of National Human Rights Institutions in ensuring the rights of women" kicked off in Baku on June 18.

The event is held on Human Rights Day and the 65th anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The three-day conference which is being held with the support of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is attended by over 30 ombudsmen and their representatives, international experts in the field of human rights, influential international organizations, scientists and lawyers from 15 world countries.

Opening the event, Human Rights Commissioner (Ombudsman) of Azerbaijan Elmira Suleymanova said the aim of the conference held annually is to provide equal rights and opportunities for women, to share the experience gained in the field of human rights, to discuss the existing problems, and to expand cooperation with various international organizations in this direction.

She noted there are problems in ensuring the rights of women although a number of international documents are adopted in this field.

"The problems on ensuring the rights of women still remain unresolved. Domestic violence against women and women's poor representation in economic and political spheres are among the main problems," Suleymanova added.

In his remarks, Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the State Committee for Refugee and IDP Affairs, Ali Hasanov, informed the guests about the situation of human rights in Azerbaijan. He said ensuring women's rights is not a new issue for Azerbaijan. The country has adopted relevant laws to achieve this goal.

Touching on the female refugees and IDPs in Azerbaijan, Hasanov said the Armenian troops have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory for over 22 years.

"There are over one million refugees and IDPs in Azerbaijan and 53 percent, or 500,000 of them are women," he noted. "Some 150,000 girls were born in recent 20 years. Unfortunately, the implementation of adopted resolutions, declarations, conventions, and rules on women's rights is not at a satisfactory level."

Hasanov went on to add that today the violence against women continues, and the rights of female refugees are violated as well.

He said Azerbaijani women never have had a refugee status in the country's history, and this problem appeared only in the past 30 years when the Soviet Union collapsed.

"Unfortunately, Azerbaijani women were convicted to the refugee status," Hasanov stressed.

In her speech, Chairman of the State Committee for Family, Women, and Children Affairs Hijran Huseynova said there is a solid legal base for protecting the rights of women in Azerbaijan.

"Azerbaijani women differ for their active role in society and currently, they are represented in the governance of state," she said.

Deputy Speaker of Azerbaijan's Parliament Bahar Muradova, in turn, said propaganda and protection of human rights is very important to ensure peace and security in the whole world.

She noted Azerbaijan's parliament always attaches special attention to protection of human rights in the country.

"However, one can not say that girls and women fully enjoy all the rights and live without any problem. They face pressure from their family members. I think the law on eliminating the domestic violence against girls and women is of significant importance," she added.

The event continued with speeches of Secretary General of the National Commission of Azerbaijan for UNESCO Gunay Efendiyeva, UN Resident Coordinator/UNDP Resident Representative in Azerbaijan Antonius Broek, Deputy Chief, National Human Rights Institutions and Regional Mechanisms Section Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Afarin Shahidzade and Representative of the UNICEF Azerbaijan Country Office Mark Hereward.

The conference is expected to adopt the Baku Declaration.

Human Rights Day in Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan marks June 18 as Human Rights Day, according to a decree signed by President Ilham Aliyev on June 18, 2007.

Human rights are interdependent and indivisible rights inherent to all people regardless of their nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, religion, language, or any other status. Universal human rights are often expressed and guaranteed by law, in the forms of treaties, customary international law, general principles and other sources of international law. International human rights law lays down obligations of governments to act in certain ways or to refrain from certain acts, in order to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms of individuals or groups.

Azerbaijan, which supports the human rights as one of the main priorities of state policy, is one of the countries where human rights and freedoms are deemed the highest value of mankind. Azerbaijan's transformation into a country where human rights are protected at the highest level is the biggest achievement attained in the post-independence period.

The first achievement in the protection of human rights was the development and approval of the first Constitution of the independent Azerbaijan on November 12, 1995.

The third chapter of Azerbaijan's Constitution consisting of 48 clauses is entirely in line with the spirit of respect for a human being, his dignity and rights. Article 71 of the Constitution envisages the observance of human rights and freedoms. It instructs the legislative, executive and judicial powers to protect and maintain these rights and freedoms.

The accession to the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights is also one of the achievements in the period of Azerbaijan's independence.

The establishment of the Ombudsman Institute was another important step taken on the path of creating new efficient human rights protection mechanisms.

Azerbaijan's first Ombudsman was elected on July 2, 2002 by the parliament among three candidates put forward by the President with 111 out of 112 votes.

Thanks to all these measures Azerbaijan was recognized as an independent, legal and democratic country in the world where the protection of civil rights and freedoms is appreciated as a result of the wise policy.