A range of events are organized within the Child Rights month-long campaign

As reported before, this year the annual “Child Rights” month-long campaign is also being held in the country from October 20 to November 20 at the initiative of the Commissioner for Human rights (Ombudsman) of the Republic of the Azerbaijan, Elmira Suleymanova.  During the campaign the Ombudsman, her regional offices, as well as central and local executive authority bodies, international organizations, educational institutions organize conferences, roundtables, awareness raising events, contests and exhibitions on this topic in cooperation with non-governmental organizations and mass media with the active participation of the public all over the country.

The Leadership School operating under the Azerbaijan Child and Youth Peace Network has recently hosted such kind of events. Staff members of the Ombudsman Office, nearly 100 members of the Leadership School studying in the secondary schools of different districts of Baku, also the teachers and parents attended those events. At the same time, representatives of the Ombudsman joined the events in the school No.118 in Surakhani district, Baku-Oxford school and others.

Moreover, Ganja, Jalilabad, Sheki and Guba Regional Centers of the Ombudsman conducted a range of events at Heydar Aliyev Center in Goygol rayon, also at the schools in Ganja, Dashkesen, Bilasuvar, Jalilabad, Gakh, Sheki, Balakan, Gusar and Guba.

Those events brought together the authorized staff members of state bodies, local executive authorities, municipalities, educational institutions, also representatives of communities, elders, school teachers, religious people, active youth, students and wide public.

The Ombudsman’s representatives informed the participants in detail about the purpose and essence of the “Child Rights” month-long campaign, historical background of the rights of the child as an integral part of human rights, national legislation and international documents.

It was noted that the 30^th anniversary of adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is marked, a range of necessary measures were taken in the field of protection and promotion of children’s rights in order to ensure the implementation of this necessary document. Important reforms are carried out in economic, social, cultural, legal and other areas as well.

It was emphasized that special attention is paid to ensuring the rights of the child by the Commissioner, as well as the hotline service 916 operates for 24 hours to identify and investigate the violence or other infringements of law against children on time. It was also mentioned that the Hierarchic Child Rights Education program has been successfully managed at the secondary schools in Baku and regions since the academic year 2009-2010 at the initiative of the Ombudsman in collaboration with the Ministry of Education.

It was further noted that adoption of the Law on Approval of the Council of Europe Convention on Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse that was signed in Lanzarote on October 25, 2007, by the Parliament with a relevant statement on the basis of the legislative initiative of the country President will contribute to improving and implementing the measures aimed at fighting all forms of child abuse, including child sexual abuse, and also programs for rehabilitating victims.

Within the events broad information was provided on the comprehensive activity of the Azerbaijani Ombudsman institution in the field of children’s rights. Numerous questions of the participants related to the topic were answered.

The participants of the events noted the importance of holding that campaign and expressed their gratitude to the Commissioner in this regard. A series of events continue within the month-long campaign.