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Mehriban Aliyeva: Azerbaijan reached great achievements in the protection of womenâ€™s rights

24 May 2010 08:43 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Viktoria Dementieva â€“ APA. The 7th conference of the Council of Europe â€œGender equality: bridging the gap between de jure and de facto equalityâ€ has started in the capital of Azerbaijan. APA reports that the Council of Europe Deputy Secretary General Maud de Boer-Buquicchio and UN Deputy Secretary General Asha-Rose Migiro are also attending the conference. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyevâ€™s letter of congratulation was read at the opening of the conference. The letter says that gender equality is one of the priorities of the development of democratic society and protection of human rights.
â€œThe national legislation ensures legal equality of women and serves against discrimination in the independent Azerbaijan Republic,â€ the letter says.
President mentions that the rights of the Azerbaijani women displaced as a result of Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno Karabakh have not been restored yet.

First Lady of Azerbaijan Mehriban Aliyeva said the event paved the way for the dialogue and exchange of global experience concerning the gender equality.
â€œThis conference is quite a success. The international community should focus its attention on gender equality. The women are participating in all public spheres of the contemporary European society, politics and business, but despite these positive changes there is much work to be done. A number of resolutions and recommendations have not been fulfilled yet. Therefore gender problems are priorities of the contemporary society on one hand, and on the other hand it needs to improve the achievements. Azerbaijan reached great achievements in the protection of womenâ€™s rights. 20th century was a new period in the life of Azerbaijani womenâ€.

Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, said the conference aimed to make it understandable that women and men had equal rights and responsibilities in all spheres of public life. â€œThis conference will give a chance to evaluate achieved progresses and to investigate reasons of delays and decays in this fieldâ€.

In the Baku conference, the European ministers responsible for gender equality will investigate the factors tackling progresses in this field, promote improvement of positive results and will discuss education system and ways of mediaâ€™s struggle against gender stereotypes. The ministers will also learn prospects of the Council of Europe to adopt resolution in this field and prepare plan of measures determining future activity as well.