The Chief of Staff of the Ombudsman Office participated in the International Ombudsman Summit held in Hong Kong

Aydin Safikhanli, Head of the Ombudsman Office of Azerbaijan, participated in the International Ombudsman Summit 2024 held in Hong Kong, a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China, on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Ombudsman Institution.

During his speech, the Chief of the Office extensively informed the participants about the Ombudsman's activities in the field of ensuring and protecting human rights and freedoms, the NPM activities, the protection of the rights of children and PWDs, and good practices.

A. Safikhanli also spoke on environmental protection, combating climate change and its consequences, and the Ombudsman activities in the relevant field. He said that despite the smear and blackmail campaigns against Azerbaijan, the UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) held in November in 2024, was organized at a high level and successfully implemented. It was emphasized that as the host country - Azerbaijan, has achieved a number of successes, such as setting new targets for participating countries to better ensure people's right to live in a healthy environment, allocating $300 billion in financial assistance to developing countries annually by 2035 in order to prepare for and prevent climate change from developed countries, and reaching the consensus over Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.

It was also emphasized that all of these events are significant in terms of people's right to live in a healthy environment. As an NHRI, the Ombudsman Institution is actively involved in the COP29 process. The Ombudsman is a member of the COP29 Organizing Committee, it holds a side event in this context, and it conducts research on environmental issues. 

Noting that armed conflicts in various parts of the world have resulted in widespread violations of human rights and freedoms, the Chief of the Office said that Azerbaijan has also suffered from conflict for many years. Armenia has damaged the environment in our liberated territories, which it had kept occupied for about 30 years, and our water resources were polluted with chemical waste. Armenia committed various crimes, such as ecocide, urbicide, mine terrorism, and so on. It was said that the Ombudsman has conducted fact-finding missions in the liberated lands, both independently and jointly with international organizations, in order to convey these facts to the world community. Subsequently, reports and statements based on the findings of these on-site investigations have been submitted to international organizations. 

The Chief of Staff noted that the Ombudsman, in those statements and reports, called on relevant institutions, ombudsmen, and NHRIs of other countries to act jointly against such situations that pose a threat to humanity.