The annual report by the Commissioner (Ombudsman) for Human Rights of the Azerbaijan Republic was heard at the meeting of the Milli Majlis Human Rights Committee on 10 March.

Committee Chairman Zahid Oruj said, while opening the session, about the processes current world-wide and in the region in 2020 and placed a special emphasis on the coronavirus pandemic and Azerbaijan’s having liberated its territories occupied previously. Those developments had given birth to several new challenges and set certain goals in the realm of defence of human rights and liberties, and it is in this context precisely that the Ombudsman’s annual statement reflects the efforts her Office made to defend the rights and liberties, as well as honour and dignity of the citizens of Azerbaijan, and to promote their fundamental rights including those to freedom of conscience. At the same time, according to Mr Oruj, the document sheds light on certain problems that await resolution.

Head of the Ombudsman’s Office Aydin Safikhanli who tabled the report told the assembled that their office had received 27,500 applications last year. The complaints were processed before communication to the appropriate state agencies about solving the problems raised by the applicants. Steps were taken to restore damaged rights and relevant proposals were put forth.

Commissioner Sabina Aliyeva initiated fact-finding missions to probe into Armenia’s war crimes against civilians in the areas subjected to Armenian aggression during the 44-day-long Patriotic War. That was done to assess the crimes’ scales and inform the international community accordingly.

The hearing was followed up by the commentary from Deputy Chairman of the Milli Majlis Human Rights Committee Tahir Karimli and the Committee Members Fazil Mustafa, Bahrouz Maharramov, Jala Ahmadova, Naghif Hamzayev and Elshad Mirbashir oglu. The MPs also spoke of the proposals contained in the annual debrief, such as to establish an Alimony Foundation, promote prison inmates’ rights to education and healthcare, that the right to travel abroad be only restricted subject to court holdings and that displacement of employees with a certain amount of time left till their retirement age be prohibited in all corporate staff redundancy cases.

Then, the attending civil activists Mehriban Zeynalova, Saadat Benenyarli, Alimammad Nuriyev and Rauf Zeyni voiced their own opinions about the annual report and suggestions regarding it.

Zahid Oruj remarked as he was summing the speeches up that protection of the human rights and liberties was one of the state policy priorities and that all the laws enacted by the Milli Majlis always passed specifically expert checks for compliance in this field beforehand. This field is very reliant on discussions and dialogues between the Parliament, state agencies, the Ombudsman’s Office and the civil society, in Mr Oruj’s opinion.

The same parliamentary Committee’s members Elman Nasirov and Razi Nurullayev and other officials attended the hearing as well.

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis