THE SITUATION OF WOMEN IN THE SOUTH CAUCASUS
1. The Committee of Ministers has duly
considered Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 1790 (2007) on "The situation of women in the South
Caucasus" and concurs with the Assembly's view that an effort must be made to
promote women's participation at all levels of public and political life. This
entails, where necessary, continuing to encourage women's effective access to
education, including higher education.
2.
In the context of the assistance and co-operation programmes for the countries
of the South Caucasus, which the Parliamentary Assembly welcomes in paragraph 2
of its recommendation, the Council of Europe has implemented a number of
activities, such as seminars on balanced participation of women and men in
political and public decision-making (e.g. the seminar on women's participation
in elections as candidates and voters held in July 2005 as part of the Council
of Europe action plan with a view to the parliamentary elections in
Azerbaijan). In the same vein, promoting women's participation in elections is
one component of the pre-electoral assistance programmes recently introduced
for the benefit of the South Caucasus countries. Attention could also be paid
to this matter in the context of the future action plans aimed at providing
assistance to the South Caucasian countries.
3.
As the Assembly underlines in paragraph 3 of its recommendation, it is very
important to mainstream a gender perspective in the activities. Already in
1998, a message of the Committee of Ministers on mainstreaming gender equality
called on Council of Europe bodies to adopt such an approach in their
activities.
4.
In response to paragraph 4 of the recommendation, the Committee of Ministers
recalls that, following its own declaration of 1988 and the declaration adopted
at the 4th European Ministerial Conference on Equality between Women and Men,
held in Istanbul in 1997, gender equality has been recognised within the
Council of Europe as an integral part of human rights and a fundamental
requirement of democracy. The Council of Europe's action to promote equality
between women and men both in its member states and within the organisation
itself is founded on these two principles. The 7th European Ministerial
Conference on Equality between Women and Men, to be held in Azerbaijan in 2010,
will provide an opportunity to take stock of progress made by member states in
this area.
5.
Concerning prison reform, in recent years, the Council of Europe has run
assistance programmes for Azerbaijan and Georgia and a similar programme is to
be launched for Armenia. It encourages the three countries to pursue the prison
and criminal law reforms they have initiated, paying special attention to the
application of justice to women.
6.
With regard to fostering women's participation in conflict resolution, as
recommended in paragraph 6, the Committee of Ministers could draw attention to
the fact that this was the subject of the 5th European Ministerial Conference
on Equality between Women and Men, held in Skopje in January 2003 on the theme
"Democratisation, conflict prevention and peace-building: the perspectives and
the roles of women". The resolution adopted at this conference called for full
participation of women at all levels of decision-making in local, national,
regional and international institutions and mechanisms for the prevention,
management and resolution of conflicts, including peace negotiations, and the
democratisation of post-conflict societies. It also pointed out that policies
for women's full participation must be supported by the integration of a gender
perspective in all activities aimed at conflict prevention and resolution,
including peace agreements, the promotion of peace and construction of a
democratic society. As part of the follow-up action to this conference, a draft
recommendation on the role of women and men in conflict prevention and
resolution and in peace-building is now nearing completion.
7.
Furthermore, in 2003, the Council of Europe provided assistance to an NGO in
Azerbaijan under the confidence-building measures programme (project entitled
"Training Programme Ethnic Minorities: Living without conflicts") with a view
to promoting conflict prevention and peace-building. This type of activities
could continue and even be intensified in the region. Lastly, Recommendation
Rec(2003)3 on balanced participation of women and men in political and public
decision-making, adopted in March 2003, also recommends, in paragraph 14 of the
appendix, that governments consider enhancing gender balance when appointing
representatives to international mediation and negotiating committees,
particularly in peace processes and conflict settlement.
8.
As regards paragraph 7 of the Assembly recommendation, the Committee of
Ministers attaches importance to the participation of all member states,
including Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, in the Council of Europe's campaign
on combating trafficking in human beings. On this matter, it recalls that
seminars on the fight against trafficking in human beings were organised in
2005 in Georgia and in September 2007 in Armenia in the context of the
promotion of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in
Human Beings. It welcomes the action plans adopted by the three countries
regarding the fight against trafficking in human beings. It also welcomes the
fact that Georgia has already ratified the above-mentioned Convention and that
Armenia has initiated the procedure for the ratification of this instrument. The
Committee of Ministers hopes that this procedure will be completed rapidly. It
encourages Azerbaijan to sign and ratify the Convention.
9.
With regard to the Council of Europe Campaign to Combat Violence against Women,
including domestic violence, the three countries of the South Caucasus have
designated focal points and high-level officials to develop their national
campaigns.1 The Committee of Ministers encourages these countries
to go further by introducing political and legal measures in the spheres of
victim support and protection, data collection and awareness-raising. It
welcomes the fact that Georgia adopted the law on domestic violence in 2006 and
in July 2007 an action plan on measures to prevent and combat domestic
violence, which covers the period 2007-2008. It also welcomes the national
action plan covering the period 2004-2010 on the improvement of the status of
women in Armenia, which provides in particular for measures to combat violence
against women, as well as the state programme on the fight against domestic
violence adopted in Azerbaijan for the period 2007-2011.
Doc.
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Recommendation
1790 (2007)
Reply
from the Committee of Ministers
adopted
at the 1015th meeting of the Ministers' Deputies (16 January 2008)
1 Contact
details for these focal points and high-level officials can be found on the
campaign website: http://www.coe.int/stopviolence/intergov
AGIC promotes creating the history of civil society and those initiations by studying woman’s public activity in the end of XIX - the beginning of XX centuries. The collection of the visual evidences and oral reminiscences allows not only to recalled the events, become utterly absorbed in the atmosphere that reigned at that time but also to comprehend, understand how and what efforts were demanded for establishing of Caucasus women’s rights. The information collected here will serve also as a supporting material for teachers, historians and researchers working in the sphere of woman’s and gender problems. They will get an opportunity of using these unique documents as historical references, visual and oral evidences.
In Azerbaijan by initiative of the President Ilham Aliev in accordance with Presidential Decree dated by 6 of February 2006 State Committee on Family, Women and Children issues has been established. Chairwoman of the Committee is Mrs. Khidjran Guseynova. She is the professor of the Baku State University and the first woman- the doctor of political sciences in Azerbaijan