Baku, Azerbaijan, June 21
Trend:
First Deputy Chairman of the Azerbaijani parliament Ziyafat Asgarov met with participants of the 15th International Conference of Ombudsmen in Baku June 21, the Azerbaijani parliament said in a message.
Asgarov, who is also the chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for Defense, Security and Combating Corruption, stressed the importance of discussing such a topic as the role of national human rights institutions in ensuring and promoting legal equality at the conference.
“Such international events coincide with several significant dates, namely, the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the 95th birth anniversary of national leader Heydar Aliyev, and the 70th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” Asgarov stressed.
He also informed the guests that Human Rights Day is celebrated in Azerbaijan on June 18 and appreciated the cooperation in the field of human rights protection.
“The country attaches special importance to ensuring human rights and freedoms, adding that Azerbaijan adequately fulfills its obligations to international organizations in this field,” he said.
Asgarov stressed that the World Refugee Day has been recently marked.
“As a result of occupation of 20 percent of Azerbaijani lands by Armenia, there are more than one million refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) in Azerbaijan,” he said. “Azerbaijan is taking necessary measures in terms of improving the living conditions of these people, ensuring their political, social and economic rights. However, their rights are not protected at the international level.”
“In connection with the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the UN adopted four resolutions in 1993,” he said. “In this regard the corresponding decisions were adopted in such international structures as OSCE, PACE, Non-Aligned Movement. However, Armenia does not recognize these documents and continues its occupation policy.”
In her turn, Human Rights Commissioner Elmira Suleymanova spoke about the cooperation of the Ombudsman's Institute and the Azerbaijani parliament.