MINELRES: Fwd: Seminar on Ethnic Minorities Rights in Azerbaijan

[MINELRES moderator]

Original sender: Human Rights Center of Azerbaijan <aihmm@lycos.de>


----- Forwarded Message ----- 
From: Avaz Hasanov 

Seminar on Ethnic Minorities Rights

On July 8-11 2002 in the International Recreation Center "Ganjlik"
(Zagulba) was held four days long conference "Dialogue among the
Ethnic Minorities of Azerbaijan Republic." The conference was
organized by the Society for Humanitarian Research with partnership by
Azerbaijan Demographers' Association and Young Lawyers Union, with the
financial support of the Council of Europe in the frames "Confidence
Building Measures" programs.  The representatives of more than 20
organizations representing national minorities and several local human
rights organizations took part in the conference.  The main objectives
of the conference were to establish a dialogue among ethnic minorities
living in Azerbaijan, NGOs working in this field and representatives
of the local press, to promote the participation of ethnic minorities
in the building of civil society, and to raise knowledge on
establishment of relations among ethnic groups. 

The conference was opened by the greeting speech of the director of
the Society for Humanitarian Research. He was followed by the
representative of the Council of Europe in Azerbaijan Mrs. Inkerie
Aarnio Lvoff. The schedule of the conference divided the flow of the
work into two parts. The first parts of the days were given to guest
speakers' reports while the second parts were spent in working groups.
Each lecturer had a specified time frame to deliver a speech and
answer to the questions of the participants.  In the second part of
the day participants split into working groups discussing issues
concerned ethnic minorities problems and rights. The first guest
speaker was Vafaeddin Ibayev, Head of Surakhani Region of Baku,
delivering a speech on ethnic minorities rights, international
documents concerning this problem and the national legislation
securing these rights. 

On the second day of the conference the guest speaker was a human
rights defender from Germany Bernhard Klazen. He reported on human
rights defense and institutions protecting and promoting the human
rights such as the Council of Europe, OSCE, UN and etc. On July 10,
the head of the Citizens' Rights Protection League Sahib Mammedov made
a report on a conflict solving and the role of ethnic minorities in
the building of civil society.  On July 11, the president of the NGOs
Confederation Mais Gulaliyev made a detailed report on relations and
cultural ties among ethnic groups and social lobbyism. The head of
Azerbaijan Demographers Assocoation Niyazi Mursaqulov informed
participants about cultural and social problems of ethnic groups and
the ways to solve them.  The director of Human Rights Defense Center
Eldar Zeynalov commented many questions concerning ethnic minorities
and their rights. He claimed: "We have legal norms in Azerbaijan and
they are very good. Unfortunately they are not being implemented in
many cases." 

In addition to the official sessions of the conference, the
participants contacted with each other at the recreational events
prepared for them. According to many opinions, these contacts were
really useful because participants got to know each other much better
and even thought about collaboration among some of them.  Addressing
in the conference Avaz Hasanov mentioned: "It is planned to organize a
round table discussion in a radio program and publish a booklet as the
summary of the conference. Doing that we hope to advocate tolerance
towards the problems of ethnic minorities and to draw attention of the
government to cultural heritage and language of ethnic minorities."