On 19 May 2022, the Council of Europe in co-operation with the State Committee on Family, Women and Children Affairs (SCFWCA) organised an awareness-raising event on the role of national Parliaments in preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence in Baku, Azerbaijan. The event aimed at raising awareness on Council of Europe standards on violence against women and domestic violence and the role of national parliaments in this field.
More than 30 participants, including Members of the Parliament represented in the Milli Majlis, the representatives of the SCFWCA and of international organisations and embassies attended the event. Ms Marija Pejčinović Burić, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Ms Bahar Muradova, Chair of the State Committee on Family, Women and Children Affairs and Ambassador Peter Michalko, Head of the European Union Delegation to Azerbaijan addressed the opening session of the event. In the first session dedicated to Council of Europe standards on violence against women and domestic violence, interventions of Ms Iris Luarasi, president of the Group of Experts against Violence against Women (GREVIO) and Judge Lətif Hüseynov, Azerbaijani judge to the European Court of Human Rights, highlighted how the Council of Europe is helping member states tackle this very serious human rights violation. In the second session dedicated to the role of national parliaments in promoting these standards at national level, interventions from members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe showcased what member states, including Azerbaijan, are doing to prevent and combat violence against women.
During the discussions, participants highlighted the key role of parliamentarians in promoting standards on violence against women and in raising awareness on the topic in the society and point onto the right direction for policy and legislative changes.
The Azerbaijani translation of the Council of Europe publication on “The Istanbul Convention: A powerful tool to end gender-based violence. A handbook for parliamentarians on the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence” was presented to the participants during the event.
This activity was organised in the framework of the project “Raising awareness of the Istanbul Convention and other gender equality standards in Azerbaijan,” funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe in their Partnership for Good Governance II 2019-2022.
