On June 2, 2020, the regular meeting with participation of the founding members of the Azerbaijan Think Tanks and Civil Society Network was held. Due to obvious reasons, this time the meeting was held through an online platform.
The online meeting was organized by one of the founders of the Network – Ramil Iskandarli, chairman of the Legal Analysis and Research Public Union. The meeting was dedicated to the The International Day For Protection Of Children and the main purpose of the meeting was to get acquainted with the current situation with children’s rights in the country, reforms in this area, shortcomings in the field and prospects for cooperation of civil society institutions with government agencies to address them, the social impact of the COVID 19 pandemic on children, to discuss the work done by member NGOs, child justice issues and an alternative report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and other issues were.
One of the founders of the Network, Head of the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) Aydin Safikhanli provided detailed information on protection and promotion of the children’s rights by the Ombudsman Institution including a series of awareness-raising activities related to the children’s rights, on visits and monitoring of childcare facilities, pre-trial detention facilities and temporary detention facilities, highlighted the work done by the Ombudsman to further increase attention to the protection of children’s rights in the context of a special quarantine regime applied to prevent the spread of a new type of coronavirus infection (COVID-19) and to strengthen the fight against it and answered questions from participants. He also informed participants that the President signed Decree approving a new National Children’s Strategy for Azerbaijan for 2020-2030.
The event was attended by the following founding experts of the Network who spoke on the topic:
– Aydin Safikhanli – Head of Office, the Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman)
– Ramil Iskandarli – Chairman, Legal Analysis and Research Public Union
– Elmari Mamishov – Deputy Chairman, Legal Analysis and Research Public Union
– Ramil Mammadli – Military-political analyst
– Ismayil Karimov – Research expert
– Avaz Hasanov – Chairman, Humanitarian Research Public Union
– Kamala Ashumova – Director, Reliable Future Youth Organization
– Fariz Akbarov – Lawyer, Child rights expert
– Mehriban Zeynalova – Head, “Pure World” organization
At the meeting, the participants agreed to hold meetings and consultations with relevant government agencies and the Ombudsman’s Office to address the issues of children’s rights.
The Network, founded in January 2019, has held a number of events so far.The main aim of the Network is mobilizing capacity of organizations and professionals operating in various fields in Azerbaijan to support implementation of public policy in this area by means of analytical and research work focused on the country’s development in these fields.
For the purpose of technical and organizational support of the activity of the Network, the Legal Analysis and Research Public Union implements functions of Secretariat.
Secretariat of the Azerbaijan Think Tanks and Civil Society Network
