A peer to peer exchange between the Azerbaijan and Montenegro Ombudsperson’s Offices was held

One of the main areas of international cooperation of the Azerbaijani Ombudsperson is the exchange of experience with ombuds institutions of other countries to enhance professional capacity building for effective protection of human rights and freedoms. One such example was a joint peer-to-peer exchange that was recently organized for the Ombuds institution of Montenegro.

A group of staff from the Azerbaijani Ombudsperson’s Office participated in a training titled “Anti-Discrimination Practices from the Perspective of the Ombudsperson’s Offices of Montenegro and Azerbaijan,” held in Budva, Montenegro, aimed at exchanging experience in ensuring anti-discrimination and legal equality.

The staff members of the Azerbaijani Ombudsperson’s Office: Javidan Gorchiev, Vafa Verdiyeva, Sevinc Shener, Fargana Mammadkhanova, Parvin Rahimov, and Mikayil Bayramov participated in the peer-to-peer exchange.

The main purpose of the event was to familiarize participants with Montenegro’s experience in preventing discrimination, promoting gender equality, addressing violence against women and domestic violence, protecting the rights of persons with disabilities, and strengthening the activities of ombudsperson’s offices in these areas. Furthermore, the event aimed to promote effective exchange of experience between the two countries.

During the plenary sessions and panels, discussions were held on several key topics, including the role of ombuds institutions in the protection of human rights, combating gender-based violence and hate speech, the implementation of international mechanisms, equal opportunities for PWDs, data collection and report preparation, and cooperation with the public institutions and media, as well as proactive approaches to individuals in risk groups.

Alongside, as part of the program, the delegation visited Montenegro’s Ministry of Human and Minority Rights, where they obtained information about the relevant activities of the Ministry, particularly regarding gender equality and the protection of the rights of vulnerable groups.

An interactive discussion was held at the end of the event, during which questions raised by the participants were answered.