Ombudsman’s Call for Declaration of Human Rights Month-Long Campaign

The First State Program on the Protection of Human Rights was approved on 18 June 1998, by the National Leader Heydar Aliyev and determined to be one of the main directions of state policy in the field of human rights protection. 

So, 18 June was declared a Day of Human Rights in the Republic of Azerbaijan by the Decree dated June 18, 2007 issued by the country President Ilham Aliyev, who successfully continues and further develops this policy, which has been marked annually for 17 years. 

On the eve of this remarkable day, the Ombudsman of Azerbaijan annually proclaims 18 May -18 June as a day of human rights across the country, during which there are various awareness activities to inform people about topical human rights. 

Given all of the above, and the forthcoming 18 June- Human Rights Day in Azerbaijan, I declare 18 May-18 June of the current year as Human Rights Month-Long Campaign for the purpose of developing the legal thinking and culture of the society, and raising public awareness of the accomplishments in the field of human rights and tasks.  

During the awareness activities held in the course of the month-long campaign, it is preferable to cover the issues driven by international treaties, SDGs, binding legislative acts, state programs, strategies, national action plans, concepts, and similar other documents, as well as the matters related to the declaration of 2024 in Azerbaijan as the “Green World Solidarity Year” and the COP 29 UN Climate Change Conference of Participating States.    

In this regard, I call on all state agencies, municipalities, scientific, educational, cultural, social service, medical, penitentiary institutions, civil society organizations, non-government organizations, media entities, trade unions, and the relevant institution to actively join our initiative, to increase their activities for promotion and protection, to organize various range of awareness events of topical issues, and to share on social network accounts using # HumanRightsMonth hashtags.     

Furthermore, I do believe that the issues of protecting the rights of the vulnerable population groups, including families of martyrs, war veterans, persons with disabilities, children, the elderly, refugees, former IDPs, and migrants, will be shown special sensitivity, and legal educational materials will be prepared, published, and disseminated among the population, actively highlighting these events, advertisements, and campaigns through audiovisual, print, and online media, as well as television, radio channels, and social media accounts. Therefore, I also express my sincere gratitude in advance for this.

Sincerely, 

 Sabina Aliyeva 

The Commissioner for Human Rights 

of the Republic  of Azerbaijan

(Ombudsman)

18 May 2024