There was an online hearing at the Milli Majlis with the organisational support from the parliamentary Committee for Family, Women’s and Children’s Affairs ‘The Current Situation of Young Families: the Opportunities and the Challenges’ on 3 February.

Deputy Chair of the Milli Majlis and Chairman of the parliamentary Committee for Youth and Sports Adil Aliyev, MPs, delegates from the concerned state departments and youth organisations as well as members of the public took part in the videoconference.

Chair of the parliamentary Committee for Family, Women’s and Children’s Affairs Hijran Huseynova welcomed the participants before saying that we were marking the Youth Day as a victorious nation this year and that we were proud of our youth. The Azerbaijani youth summoned up all its strength and gained the historic victory under the leadership of the Commander-in-Chief, both in the trenches, in the diplomatic area and in the information field, during the Patriotic War. The valiant sons of the nation quenched our thirty-year-long longing for the Motherland.

Concern for the young people who constitute 23.6 per cent of the population of Azerbaijan is an important component of the state policy and has an adequate legislative platform for implementation. The Azerbaijani State is transiting to a new stage qualitatively in this post-pandemic and post-conflict period. A decree by President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan has approved the document entitled ‘Azerbaijan 2030: the National Priorities of Social and Economic Development’. The deliverables under five National Priorities identified for the next ten years are to encompass each citizen of the country and, in particular, ensure the youth’s progress and an improvement in the social stances of young families.

Marriages have shrunk in number three times and divorces grown also thrice worldwide over the 56 years past, it was said. Such objectionable trends observable in the West as degradation of the traditional family model and the rising numbers of child-free families and couples cohabiting without wedlock are ripe with hazardous developments, in the opinion of Mrs Huseynova. She emphasised the importance of adequate steps to keep this tendency spreading and gaining ground in our country.

Mrs Huseynova also covered the recently-valid issues of family psychology, the increasingly younger people taking narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, reproductive health matters, prevention of early marriages, the necessity of ensuring employment and other things that matter. The specialist committees of the Milli Majlis are working on proposals to protect families; for instance, they are preparing for a repeated examination of the Family Code and of several current laws.

Deputy Chair of the Milli Majlis and Chairman of the parliamentary Committee for Youth and Sports Adil Aliyev brought up the specific problems connected to young families. He mentioned regretfully the growing number of divorces due to the COVID-19 pandemic around the globe. Especially unfortunately, this process had impacted young families especially; 1,501 divorces were taken on record in our country in May 2020 alone, Mr Aliyev added.

Going further, Deputy Speaker stressed that family was the core of a society and that addressing families’ problems and promoting a sound family environment were amongst the obligations assumed by the State. Amongst the causes of the growing number of divorces are some young people becoming addicted to drugs and alcohol and acquiring other harmful addictions. Azerbaijan having the Law ‘On Mediation’ in effect makes possible pre-trial settlement of disputes leading to divorces or associated with them. Unfounded divorces can be averted thanks to psychologists and other social workers whose services are available during mediation, according to Mr Aliyev.

Telling the gathering of the current and planned activities of his committee, Deputy Speaker mentioned the outstanding exploits and resilience of our youth both in the Patriotic War battlefields and at the information front back home. A special kind of attention must be paid to raising our youth in the spirit of the national moral basics alongside all the measures to resolve the difficulties that young families encounter, Mr Aliyev concluded.

The speech by Deputy Speaker was followed by three presentations: about the State’s tasks and duties in implementing the youth policy, delivered by Deputy Minister for Youth and Sports Intigam Babayev, about the status of young families in the modern Azerbaijani society, given by Deputy Chair of the State Committee for Family, Women’s and Children’s Problems Aynur Sofiyeva and about the role of the Youth Foundation in the progress of the Azerbaijani youth, presented by the said Foundation’s Chairman Farid Jafarov.

Deliberations began once all the three presentations had been heard.

Some important current matters were touched upon, and weighty proposals were motioned by Chairman of the Public Association ‘Enlightenment of the Youth by Demobilised Military Officers’ Emin Hasanli, Chair of the Public Association ‘The Azerbaijani Youth Alliance’ Leyla Mammadli-Sadigova and Chair of Gender Hub Azerbaijan Maryam Majidova.

Deputy Chair of the parliamentary Committee for Family, Women’s and Children’s Affairs Jala Aliyeva and the MPs Tamam Jafarova, Nigyar Arpadarai and Rauf Aliyev spoke of the current position of young families, financial provisions for them, the causes of divorces, drug addiction and its roots, the harmful aspects of social networks, the alien mind-sets and customs adopted from the West and foreign habits’ impact on the Azerbaijani youth as well as about other subjects that matter as much. The speakers also put forth a number of proposals relevant to their points.

All the speakers thanked Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova for the opportunity to hold the online hearing.

Amongst the participants were also the MPs Ramin Mammadov, Sevil Mikayilova, Parvin Karimzade, Sadagat Valiyeva, Rashad Mahmudov and Konul Nurullayeva, Chairman of the National Council of the Youth Organisations of the Azerbaijan Republic Azer Guliyev, Chairman of the Union of Azerbaijan’s Students’ Organisations Parviz Miralamli, Chairman of the Organisation against Human Trade Ramiz Aliyev, Chairman of the Association of the Public Aid to the Azerbaijani Youth ‘Enlightenment’ Afig Malikov, Chair of the Public Association ‘Social Progress of Women and Young Families’ Tunzala Javadova and Chairman of the Public Association ‘Support for the Modern Youth’s Development’ Fagan Huseynov.

Summarising the deliberations held, Hijran Huseynova let her views of the ideas sounded during them be known. She then said that the legislation-related ideas would be taken into consideration duly and suggested that the attendants of the hearing write their respective proposals down and submit them to her Committee.

With that, the online hearing ‘The Current Situation of Young Families: the Opportunities and the Challenges’ arranged by the Milli Majlis Committee for Family, Women’s and Children’s Affairs was over.

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis