Ombudsman participates in discussion of draft law On State Budget 2024

The Ombudsman participated in the discussion of the draft law "On the State Budget of the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2024", The Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Sabina Aliyeva took part in the discussion of the draft law "On State Budget of the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2024" in Milli Majlis, Azernews reports.

During her speech, the Ombudsman said that after the liberation of Azerbaijani lands from occupation, social and economic measures of state importance were implemented to restore the violated rights of our former IDPs, and these measures were aimed at further improving the welfare of the population.

The Ombudsman drew attention to a number of economic and social problems that came to the forefront in the appeals of citizens to the Ombudsman, and in order to ensure the general health of the population, all medical services should be provided at the expense of compulsory health insurance, the minimum labour pension should be increased, and child care allowances up to three years should be paid to those who are not employed.

Taking into account the real needs of the population, especially low-income families and vulnerable groups, increasing the size of the minimum consumer basket, improving the quality and expanding the list of free medicines provided to our citizens suffering from a number of diseases, and increasing the size of allowances to guardians of children who lost their parents and were deprived of parental care, S.Aliyeva said it is necessary to organise a "breast milk kitchen" and increase the number of state-ordered places in state higher and secondary special education institutions.

The Ombudsman requested to allocate the necessary funds for the continuation of the measures for the elimination of the damage caused to the civilian population by the Armenian armed forces during the years of the Patriotic War, reasonable adaptation of the social infrastructure objects and public transport for the disabled, money for food and rent of housing in order to strengthen the social protection of the servicemen, and proposed to increase the amount of compensation.

The Human Rights Commissioner also said there is a need to allocate financial resources to ensure the amounts to be paid to citizens by state institutions in connection with the execution of court decisions from the state budget.

S.Aliyeva stressed the importance of introducing a number of structural changes, such as the creation of a department for combating discrimination and the business and human rights sectors in the Ombudsman's Office, as well as financial support for the modernization of the material and technical base of the institution in order to strengthen the activity of the Ombudsman's institution.

The importance of reforms in the field of human rights in Azerbaijan, the importance of increasing financial support for business trips to participate in international events organised in foreign countries, and taking appropriate measures for this purpose were also noted.