The Head of the Ombudsman Office participated in the regional conference on the rights of the elderly

On 20 July 2021, Aydin Safikhanli, the Head of the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) of the Republic of Azerbaijan, participated in the online regional conference on “Rights of Older Persons and the Role of Ombudsman/NHRIs”, organized by the Office of the Public Defender (Ombudsman) of Georgia.

The online meeting was attended by representatives of different regional Ombudsman/NHRIs, UN Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons, representatives of the Council of Europe and other experts.

During his speech, A. Safikhanli analyzed the national and international legal framework from the perspective of the protection and promotion of the rights of older persons. He said that the national legislation, especially the Constitution guarantees all citizens equal rights and opportunities before the law and court, regardless of their language, religion, old age, etc, and that older citizens are benefited from all human rights enshrined in the country Constitution, and international treaties, to which Azerbaijan is a party.

Speaking about the activity of the Ombudsman in the concerned area, he also noted that the Ombudsman prepares recommendations to improve the relevant legislation in a view to better protecting the rights of such category of persons, as well as conducts awareness-raising events, and cooperates with responsible state agencies, international organizations and civil society organizations.  It was said that within the national preventive mechanism mandate of the Ombudsman, the monitoring were held in social service institutions. During those monitoring, the issues of ensuring the rights of older persons placed in social facilities, the accessibility of the condition in the facilities for the senior residents, access to food, medical care and social services, and the effective organization of the leisure time for senior citizens were inspected.    

The Head of the Ombudsman Office noted that during the pandemic period, the Ombudsman Office and Regional Centers monitored the situation of ensuring the rights of the elderly in social service institutions across the country, the works were done for the response to COVID-19 and recommendations and suggestions were made as well. It was also said that during the pandemic, the Ombudsman’s Call Center 916 was an effective tool in accepting the requests made by senior citizens, low-income and lonely people over the age of 65, who are also of the high-risk group were provided specific attention, including the provision of social and material and medical care services.  

The representative of the Ombudsman also said that in order to promote a healthy lifestyle and inform the elderly about the legal knowledge they may need in their daily lives, Azerbaijan Ombudsman institution prepared a booklet “Towards Decent Old Age”, which became an effective tool for the education of senior citizens about the relevant state-funded aids and services. In addition,  with the support of the United Nations Population Fund, the Institution produced a booklet entitled “Let’s benefit from the wise elders!”

At the meeting, the participants shared their experiences applied to the protection of the older persons’ rights in the region.