Azernews.Az

By Sabina Idayatova

The 4^th ISESCO ministerial conference on children entitled 'Problems of children and urbanization in the Islamic world' officially kicked off at the Heydar Aliyev Center in Azerbaijani capital Baku on November 11.

Prior to the opening ceremony, participants viewed a photo exhibition highlighting Azerbaijan`s child policy, as well as an exhibition of children`s works.

The two-day conference brings together more than 220 delegates from nearly 60 countries.

Azerbaijan's deputy Prime Minister, Deputy Chairman and Executive Secretary of the New Azerbaijan Party Ali Ahmadov read out the congratulatory message of President Ilham Aliyev.

The Azerbaijani head of state in his message expressed hope that the ongoing conference in Baku will have a positive impact on the strengthening of cooperation between the ISESCO member states.

Addressing the meeting, Ahmadov noted that fruitful collaboration is established between the Azerbaijani Government and ISESCO.

"A number of projects of this organization are implemented in Azerbaijan and this event is one of them. Active participation of the First Lady of Azerbaijan ,Mehriban Aliyeva, in the activities of ISESCO has brought considerable dynamism to the organization, and raised Azerbaijan's cooperation with the ISESCO to the highest level," Ahmadov said.

In turn, the chairman of the State Committee for Family, Women and Children Affairs, Hijran Huseynova, said that ISESCO, combining 51 countries, provides a very noble mission.

According to Huseynova, throughout 24 years of activity, the organization has done a great job.

She also mentioned that the ISESCO does not limit the scope of its activities only to Islamic countries. According to Huseynova, the organization also closely works with the countries, which hosts a small number of Muslims.

"One of the main activities of ISESCO is the preservation and transmission of the rich historical heritage to future generations of the Muslim countries which are faced with the problem of war. Today, 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory is under occupation. Hundreds of cultural, historical and religious monuments have existed in this lands which have been destroyed cruelly by the invaders. This cruelty was manifested not only to the monuments, but also the elder people, women and children. We are bringing these facts, the realities, to the world community and international organizations, and we appreciate the support of ISESCO in this issue," she said.

Huseynova further noted that a Protocol on cooperation was previously signed between Heydar Aliyev Foundation and ISESCO in 2007, according to which Azerbaijan has implemented a variety of projects and activities in the fields of science, education and culture.

"Protecting the rights of children is one of the priorities of the government of Azerbaijan," she said.

"The Azerbaijani government has defined the minimum standards necessary for the life and development of children. Currently, such issues as reducing child mortality, prevention of childhood diseases are remained on the focus," Huseynova said.

ISESCO is asking its member states to implement specific programmes to address the differences between cities and villages and to create optimal living conditions in rural areas. This initiative was put forward by the ISESCO Director General Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri during his speech at the 4^th ISESCO ministerial conference on children entitled 'Problems of children and urbanisation in the Islamic world'.

According to Altwaijri, currently more than half the world's population lives in cities. In order to live in better circumstances, people move from rural to urban areas. Therefore, the proportion of the urban population in the world in 2011 reached 52.1 per cent, while in 1950 the figure was 29.4 per cent.

The ISESCO Director General noted that this figure continues to grow and in the member states this process is developing at a faster pace.

According to him, today 47 per cent of the population of the ISESCO member states lives in cities, and half of this figure are children.

"This is a big challenge for children. Problems occur with ensuring their social needs and with education, health and legal issues. Therefore, we should pay attention to this issue. We must provide special programmes and plans to eliminate the differences of lives in the cities and villages. It is necessary to create optimal living conditions for rural residents," he said.

The other speakers also emphasized the importance of the conference, and noted that the discussed issues will be the basis for future actions.