The Council of Europe organised a conference on “Gender equality and media” under its project “Gender equality and media freedom in Azerbaijan” in partnership with the State Committee for Family, Women and Children Affairs, the Ombudsman Office and the Azerbaijan Press Council on 13 May 2019 in Baku. The conference was dedicated to the 70th Anniversary of the Council of Europe and 100th Anniversary of granting voting rights to Azerbaijani Women. The main aim of the conference was to raise awareness on the Council of Europe standards on gender equality and media, to review the coverage of gender equality issues in Azerbaijani media in the historical and contemporary context and and to provide space for open discussions. More than 80 representatives of the state authorities, higher education institutions, diplomatic corps, media and civil society as well as international and local experts participated in the conference.

Ms Hijran Huseynova, Head of the State Committee for Familty, Women and Children Affairs, Ambassador Zoltan Hernyes, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Baku, Ms Elmira Suleymanova, the Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ms Sahiba Qafarova, Member of Milli Majlis and Member of the Committee on Equality and Non-discrimination of the PACE and Mr Aflatun Amashov, Member of Milli Majlis and Head of Azerbaijan Press Council addressed the opening session of the conference. The three sessions of the conference respectively focused on “Council of Europe, gender equality and media freedom”, “Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, women’s rights and the media” and “Gender equality in Azerbaijani media: perspectives and challenges”.

Media coverage of the conference:

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