Combating discrimination takes important place in the activities of Azerbaijani Ombudsman

Ombudsman organizes regular meetings and public awareness campaigns with different groups of population including minorities, local and religious communities in different regions of the country, learning their problems and taking necessary measures in resolving them said Zaur Valimammadli, the chief of the international relations department of the Ombudsman Institution, at the High-Level Conference devoted to the 25th anniversary of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) in Paris, France. He emphasized the importance of public awareness for identification of hate speech or discrimination cases. He also mentioned that the Ombudsman closely cooperates with international organizations for bringing national legislation in line with international law and standards in effective combating discrimination, hate speech and intolerance. With this purpose Azerbaijani Ombudsman joined the CoE/EU Good Governance Partnership regional project “Strenghening the access to justice through non-judicial redress mechanisms for victims of discrimination, hate crime and hate speech in Eastern Partnership countries”.

During this visit, in the framework of the above mentioned joint CoE/EU Project, as a focal point at the Azerbaijani Ombudsman Office, he also attended the meeting on implementation of the project together with other focal points from Eastern Partnership countries and infomed the CoE representatives about Ombudsman’s proposals concerning further strenghtening mandate of the Ombudsman for the effective combating discrimination and intolerance.