Posted by The “Human Rights in the XXI century – Azerbaijan” Foundation was created in June 2004. The main objectives of this organization are to support and promote human rights and to restore violated rights. It also seeks to undertake legal enlightenment in the territory of Azerbaijan.
In the short period of their work, our staff, by employing the organization’s inner funds and resources, has conducted sociological polls in several provinces of the republic attempting to study the reasons which led to the unsatisfactory level of the previous parliamentary and municipal elections, and in order to develop projects directed at eliminating such negative causes.
We have created and maintained our organization’s internet website in three languages. Under an agreement with other local NGOs, we post their webpages on our site. Booklets have been issued and circulated in Baku dedicated to municipal election procedures and voters’ rights, procedures of lodging appeals to the AR Constitutional Court and to the Commissioner for Human Rights, etc.
The Foundation also publishes and circulates a free monthly newspaper named “A Citizen and the Society”, which offers top news, analytical and educational articles, social poll results and other associated information on human rights.
The Foundation has begun an effort on legal enlightening of school students. The “Human Rights in the XXI century – Azerbaijan” Foundation held a seminar in the “Azerbaijan” Hotel conference hall on May 18 dedicated to the topic “Legal Enlightenment of School Students”. The function was attended by 10-11 form secondary school students and teachers from 17 schools of Baku, as well as by human rights experts and the media.
A sociological polls among 54 school students has been carried out with the purposes of revealing their level of knowledge of their rights and obligations, of understanding the degree of importance of the human rights education for school students, and of disclosing the existing problems in the filed of children’s rights. The poll results showed an interest and necessity in expanding the level of the school students’ legal knowledge. The Foundation has issued a booklet concerning children’s rights and distributed it among the children of 20 schools in Baku.
A start was given in September 2004 to the implementation of the “Legal School” project targeted at children and students. The Foundation is planning to begin the realization of a project on monitoring first instance courts.
The organization sponsors a regularly functioning “Human Rights School” for the country’s university and college students. The Foundation’s staff members conduct periodic seminars dedicated to human rights in schools of Baku. Currently, the Foundation is energetically working on the creation of the first in the republic resource center for children’s rights.
Currently the organization has already commenced and is implementing 2 projects. The first project is being realized jointly with “Prison Watch” Association, and the Bulgarian “Centre for rehabilitation of ex-prisoners”. The project is aimed at monitoring of issues related to political prisoners in Azerbaijan.
A coalition to protect the rights of oil sector employees is being created under the second project. This coalition’s objectives is to create trade unions within the industry.
