The 10th Subcommittee meeting on Justice, Freedom, and Security (JFS) and Human Rights and Democracy of the  European Union Cooperation was held in Brussels.  

The meeting was attended by the relevant state institutions of Azerbaijan as well as the responsible employees of the Azerbaijan Representation to the European Union, the European External Action Service (EEAS), and various bodies of the EU. At the meeting, extensive discussions were held on issues relevant to the directions of action within the framework of mutual cooperation.

The Office of the Human Rights Commissioner (Ombudsman) of Azerbaijan was represented by the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Office and head of the National Preventive Group, Rashid Rumzada.

During the discussions on national human rights protection mechanisms and national human rights institutions: policy and legislative measures in the field of human rights protection, as well as recent accomplishments, extensive information was given on the relevant state policy, the initiatives of the Ombudsman of Azerbaijan, activity in relation to the improvement of legislation, strategic documents on human rights, innovative approaches applied in practice, and cooperation with civil society organizations.

R. Rumzada broadly informed the participants about the draft amendments to the Constitutional Law "On the Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) of the Republic of Azerbaijan" and answered the questions of the EU representatives.

The new draft, which aims to further increase and expand the efficiency of activities in the field of human rights, considers the recommendations contained in the reports of international and regional organizations on the country, and includes the Ombudsman’s new powers as an independent monitoring mechanism, including the National Preventive Mechanism mandate, and includes important areas of activity such as the expansion of application possibilities, was welcomed with interest.

At the Subcommittee meeting held under the co-chairmanship of Azerbaijan and the EU, according to the approved agenda, extensive discussions on the issues of human rights, democracy, justice, freedom, and security, the rights of population groups under the umbrealla of the rule of law, discrimination, freedom of expression, freedom of religion and conscience, gender equality, the activities of civil society, and others were held. Mutually addressed questions were answered by the Azerbaijani delegation and EU representatives.