Ombudsman met with the Country Representative of UN High Commissioner for Refugees

The Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Sabina Aliyeva met with the Country Representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Azerbaijan, Guido Ambroso.

In the meeting the Ombudsman gave broad information about the activities of the Ombudsman in the field of protection of the rights of refugees and IDPs. She said that according to the Constitutional Law on the Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Ombudsman also examines the complaints on violations of human rights from foreigners and stateless persons.

The Ombudsman spoke about the gross violation of all the fundamental rights of more than a million refugees and IDPs who forcibly left their lands due to the occupation of 20 percent of the territory of Azerbaijan by the armed forces of Armenia. It was emphasized that ensuring the rights and freedoms of people from this category is one of the priority directions of the Ombudsman.

The issues of cooperation in organizing joint training seminars and awareness-raising events, effectively ensuring the migrants’ rights, solving their citizenship problems and improving the legislation were discussed during the meeting. The Ombudsman also proposed to sign a new and long-term memorandum of understanding to expand existing mutual cooperation.

The UNHCR’s country representative thanked the Ombudsman for the warm welcome and highly appreciated the Ombudsman’s activities in the field of protection of the rights of IDPs and migrants and stressed the importance of further strengthening of the cooperation between the institutions.