The Milli Majlis Committee for Human Rights held its first meeting of the 2021 spring session on 19 January; opening the meeting, Committee Chairman Zahid Oruj congratulated the participants on the start of the spring session.

First, as Mr Oruj had suggested, the participants of the meeting had a minute of silence in memory of the compatriots killed in action during the 44-day war for liberation of our lands from the Armenian occupation. The MPs also asked the Almighty to rest the fallen warriors’ souls in peace and that those wounded in the battles should recover soon.

Then, Committee Chairman Zahid Oruj proceeded to the first item on the agenda, namely, the Human Rights Committee performance report covering the autumn parliamentary session of 2020. He said that the Parliament had found suitable platforms to further its work in all the required areas successfully despite the fact that the session went against the background of the hazards threatening the whole world.

The Committee had 6 meetings and considered 8 matters during the session; holding a large meeting on the 44-day war and its outcomes at the suggestion of Milli Majlis Chair Sahiba Gafarova was one of the most important achievements of the Committee in the past period. That war will forever be remembered as a sacred span of the Azerbaijani history, according to Mr Oruj who went further to say that the MPs including the Committee Members had been active upon all the available platforms as well as on the information, political and diplomatic fronts, and at the meetings held with citizens of the country in various formats. Besides, the Committee Members had met with representatives of non-governmental and human rights organisations. That string of events included the first ever meeting that the parliamentary Committee held together with the Bar Collegium. At that meeting, they passed verdicts on the current reforms in the rights legislation, practical activities and, especially importantly, in the judicial system.

Also, the Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey Mustafa Sentop and the Chairman of the GNAT Human Rights Committee Hakan Cavusoglu visited Azerbaijan in that period on the invitation of the Speaker of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova. That visit took place in the context of the joint endeavours of all the power branches of both Azerbaijan and Turkey. Representatives of the Azerbaijani parliamentary Committee for Human Rights had joined Mr Cavusoglu during his trips to the Barda and Terter provinces of Azerbaijan. While down there, they met with more than 500 people (especially, the locals who had suffered from the Armenian vandalism and terror) in one day. Subsequently, the human rights committees of the parliaments of Azerbaijan and Turkey had arrived at an agreement about joint operations – and those operations will be continued.

As Mr Oruj said, the Committee had received applications from more than 450 citizens during the autumn session; more than 200 of them had been sent to various governmental departments and state entities.

The Committee Members Fazil Mustafa, Hikmat Mammadov, Elman Nasirov and Naghif Hamzayev shared their views on the work done during the autumn session, after which the performance report was voted in.

Next, Mr Oruj presented the Committee work plan for the 2021 spring parliamentary session, saying that the first ever reports of the Human Rights Ombudsman and of the National Co-ordinator of the Countering of Human Trafficking. Besides, it is planned to discuss the Diaspora Bill, to further the co-operation with the local representative offices of the international human rights organisations, to work on ensuring that punishments should follow the crimes that Armenia committed against Azerbaijan, and study the international legislative experience in defamation and hate speech.

The Committee Members Bahrouz Maharramov, Elshad Mirbashiroglu, Fazil Mustafa, Razi Nurullayev, Hikmat Mammadov, Jale Ahmadova, Tahir Karimli and Naghif Hamzayev shared their opinions about the work plan. They mentioned that, as suggested by the Chair of the Milli Majlis, there is a very high level of information exchange between the parliamentary committees and the MPs, which, in turn, bears well on the efficiency of the routine work. Then, the Committee adopted its work plan for the spring session of 2021.

The Committee also looked at the Bill on ratification of the memorandum of understanding about the strategic co-operation in the media between the Azerbaijan and the Turkish republics.

The Committee Chairman remarked that there are major media corporations amongst the Turkish mass media and that the latter, in turn, are part of the global media as was demonstrated in practice with abundant clarity in the course of the 44-day war. The Turkish media played a centre-stage part in telling the world the truth about Azerbaijan’s just cause and in making certain that the voice of the country was heard. They also helped spread globally the media interviews with President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan. So, Mr Oruj concluded, this memorandum is of extreme importance to us.

Then spoke the Committee Members Hikmat Mammadov, Elman Nasirov and Elshad Mirbashiroglu who said that the document was necessary because it set a new collaboration vector for the two countries.

It was recommended in the end that the Bill should be tabled for deliberations at a plenary sitting of the Milli Majlis.

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis