Staff members of the Ombudsman Office participated at the international online meeting

The staff members of the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Aynur Hamidova and Elvin Hajiyev participated at the online meeting of the Working Group  on Asylum and Migration (A&M WG)under the Strategic Plan (SP) of the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions (ENNHRI) for 2018-2021. More than 20 representatives of the National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) of countries, including Belgium, Croatia, Estonia, France, Serbia, Spain and others joined this meeting.

The online event was dedicated to the discussion of the work carried out by the member institutions of the WG in accordance with the new priorities and in the framework of cooperation, the practical results achieved and the tasks set.

Delivering the speech during the meeting, the representatives of the Ombudsman Office noted that alongside with struggling against COVID-19, our country is also fighting against the military provocations of Armenia for the return of our ancient, historical and internationally recognized territories. They stressed that in these circumstances, the Ombudsman Office continues its flexible and purposeful activity.

The staff members of the Ombudsman Office also spoke about the effective protection and restoration of the rights of citizens of the Republic of Azerbaijan living abroad, as well as foreigners, stateless persons and asylum seekers in the country, strengthening cooperation with foreign ombudsmen and diplomatic missions, as well as mentioned the positive experience gained as a result of carried out measures.

It was noted that operative measures are taken in connection with each appeal received by the 916 Call Center operating in the Office. The matter of protecting the health of migrants and their family members, ensuring the rights to education, labor and other rights, the issues of unified documentation procedures remain under the focus.

It was also noted that the Commissioner regularly spreads the awareness raising information through official internet site and social media, addresses recommendations to relevant bodies in connection with protection and promotion of rights vulnerable groups of population.

Within the frames of the event the issues of organization of border monitoring, strengthening the potentials in this direction, increasing of awareness at regional and international levels, improvement of the WG activity in compliance with the modern international challenges were also discussed.