On 20 May 2022, the Council of Europe, in co-operation with the Faculty of Law of Baku State University, organised an event to raise awareness of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) case law on violence against women and domestic violence. The aim of the event was to increase awareness among law students and professors on the Council of Europe standards on violence against women and domestic violence, including the Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, known as the Istanbul Convention.

More than 250 law students and professors attended the event and had the opportunity to ask questions on the ECHR’s system and on issues related to the Court’s case law on violence against women and domestic violence to judge Lətif Hüseynov, Azerbaijani judge to the Court. Relying on the ECHR’s case law, Mr Hüseynov emphasised that domestic violence and violence against women are human rights issues, and that state responsibility for such acts of violence may arise under several provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Azerbaijani translations of several publications on Council of Europe standards on violence against women and domestic violence, including the Istanbul Convention, were distributed among law students and professors at the event.

This activity was organised in the framework of the project “Raising awareness of the Istanbul Convention and other gender equality standards in Azerbaijan” funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe in their Partnership for Good Governance II 2019-2022.