Sheki Regional Center of Ombudsman organized an event on food security

Sheki Regional Center of the Ombudsman hosted an event titled “Ensuring food safety is one the main duties of the state”, which was jointly organized with Sheki City Executive Authority and Sheki Regional Department of the Food Safety Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The event was attended by teachers and students of the Sheki State Regional Collage, Medical College and Technical College as well.

In the opening speech, the Head of the Sheki Regional Center of the Ombudsman Parviz Mammadov noted that ensuring food safety is among the priorities as one of the main state duties, and the President Ilham Aliyev always keeps under the focus the supply of safe food to the population.

He mentioned the regular reforms, legislative improvement, adoption of state programs related to food safety. The purposes of those State Programs included legal awareness of population on food safety, promotion of healthy nutrition, implementation of relevant laws, international conventions and other legislative acts. As well as, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by the United Nations Member States in the Summit of 2015 set achieving food security and improved nutrition and promoting sustainable agriculture as one of the 17 goals.

P. Mammadov also reminded the recent meeting between the Ombudsman Elmira Suleymanova and the delegation headed by the Special UN Rapporteur on the Right to Food Hilal Elver, in which they discussed about the mutual cooperation and the relevant activities carried out in the country. It was noted that the food security is also one of the main directions of the activity of “Business and Human Rights” Working Group under the Azerbaijani Ombudsman.

The other participants touched upon the issues like joint monitoring in the pre-school facilities to investigate the situation on providing children with safe food, monitoring on counterfeit products, also in wholesale and retail establishments, which operate without food safety certificates, also in canteens of schools, colleges and universities, as well as the promotion of healthy nutrition and awareness raising measures within the “Healthy student” project aimed at teaching the students habits for food safety.

The questions of the teachers and students were answered at the end of the event. Noting the importance of holding such kind of awareness raising events in this field, the participants expressed thanks for the organization of that event by the Ombudsman.