Deputy Chair of the Milli Majlis Adil Aliyev covered the subject of constitutions in the changing world, balancing stability and compliance as he spoke at an international conference held in Pakistan.

Taking the floor at the event organised at the National Assembly to honour the 50^th anniversary of the Pakistani Constitution, Vice Speaker Aliyev said that the essence of constitutions boiled down to the protection of human rights and freedoms as well as of national sovereignties and territorial integrities. The 10^th of May is the day of the centenary of the National Leader Heydar Aliyev upon whose instance the modern Constitution of independent Azerbaijan was adopted and who had contributed dramatically to the process per se. Article 7 of the Constitution specifies the division of legislative, executive and judicial powers in the Republic of Azerbaijan while Section I of the country’s main law is wholly dedicated to human rights and freedoms, according to Mr Aliyev. He said that foreign countries had violated the constitutional norms flagrantly sometimes, giving as an example the three-decade-long Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani lands. He told of the eviction of more than a million Azerbaijani citizens from their home and their eventual plight of IDP existence. The Armenian occupation of Azerbaijan’s lands had breached the sovereignty and territorial wholeness of our country but it had also violated such fundamental rights of our compatriots as the rights to life, property and free choice of abode – those people could not enjoy such rights for thirty years. With her victory of 2020, then, Azerbaijan enforced the UN resolutions whilst also restored the human rights and freedoms stipulated in international law and our Constitution – and, of course, Azerbaijan also restored her territorial wholeness and sovereignty.

Further, the Deputy Speaker of the Milli Majlis remarked that the pandemic and other global developments posed one of the hurdles to the protection of human rights and freedoms to the backdrop of wars and other calamities. Mr Aliyev then told of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic that had engulfed the world over the three years past on global processes and on the protection of human rights and freedoms.

The Press and Public Relations Department

The Milli Majlis