Elmira Suleymanova: "Day of human rights in Azerbaijan is not just a holiday, it is also a huge work"

- The national day of human rights will be for the first time marked in Azerbaijan on June 18 this year in line with the order of the President of Azerbaijan. What do you think is important in this day for our country?

- Indeed, the day of human rights protection in Azerbaijan will be for the first time marked as a national day. As you know, the world marks the the day of human rights on December 10 and we always join this process. Every time a slogan is proposed to the world. This year UN Secretary General Pan Gi Mun appealed to all states and organizations with the slogan "Dignity and justice". After that, UN high commissioner on human rights Luisa Arbur suggested to modify the appeal making it "Dignity and justice for imprisoned people".

We arranged the opening of the year on the same day. The event was devoted to the 60th anniversary of the general declaration of human rights and numerous arrangements have been and are held in all organizations and throughout the country within the year. This process is typical not only for Azerbaijan, it is on the active phase throughout the world.

At the same time, as you know, Azerbaijan has adopted a national plan of actions on human rights by proposal of ombudsman unlike other countries. Initially, some were skeptical about this document, but after my proposal was adopted (being an independent specialist I conduct monitoring, observe execution of adopted decisions, we hold regular sessions and public hearings throughout the country) this process was held on a high level. Thus, all residents of the cities and villages were able to openly discuss not only achievements but also problems we face and to think about their solution.

As it has been noted, this year Azerbaijan marks the national day of human rights for the first time. This is not just a holiday, this is a huge work. In the threshold of the human rights day, we declared the month of human rights and appealed to the Ministries and departments, especially to the Ministry of Education and arranged hearings on human rights in all secondary schools and universities. We still hold this work in many organizations, including NGOs, in many regions. This is an active process, this is in fact what the principle of democratic regulation demands. People should be heard,their remarks and proposals should be adhered to, as the appeal of the citizens is not immediately a complaint. Citizens do not only complain about anything but also express their wishes about the further improvement of the regulation system.

Presently, we - my subordinates and me, hold these arragements and their results will be declared at the international conference on June 18. This will be the sixth Baku conference of ombudsmen. It will be held under UNESCO support.

- Which will be the main issues to be discussed during the event?

- Two problems, which are among priority issues of the United Nations, will be discussed. The first is a problem of prisoners, and the second are preventive measures on combating AIDS, for which the world does not have effective measures of combat.

- Who has been invited for the event?

- The president of the International Ombudsmen Institute, as well as representatives of very many countries will attend the conference. These will be mainly the ombudsmen and those who are not able to arrive in Baku due to celebration of national events will be replaced with their deputies and representative of another level.

- Where will the results of the conference be fixed?

- Primarily, the Baku declaration, traditional for our conferences, is expected to be adopted. I think discussion of documents of the conference will be a great stimulus for further development and protection of human rights in Azerbaijan, on the other hand, it will promote democratization of regulation by maximal attraction of all categories of population to this process.

/Day.Az/