The project “Raising awareness of the Istanbul Convention and other gender equality standards in Azerbaijan” is a joint action under the European Union and Council of Europe’s programme Partnership for Good Governance II (PGG II). It is implemented by the Council of Europe and runs from 1 July 2020 to 31 December 2021.

This project aims to raise awareness on the Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention) and other gender equality standards in Azerbaijan, in order to strengthen domestic legislation and policies to align them with European standards. The Istanbul Convention is widely recognised as one of the main legal standards and the most comprehensive international treaty to tackle violence against women and domestic violence (VAW/DV), which is a serious violation of the human rights of women. In this line, the project also aims to provide support to the Azerbaijani authorities in their path towards signature and ratification of the Istanbul Convention.

To achieve that, the project will co-operate with the Azerbaijani authorities through three main fields of action: legislative and policy framework, awareness-raising activities and capacity-building of government officials.

Main activities

To achieve the objectives the project foresees the following activities:

• a gap analysis with recommendations of the current legislative and policy framework of Azerbaijan in line with Council of Europe gender equality standards, including the Istanbul Convention;
• a roundtable with relevant public officials to present the report and its recommendations, and discuss the follow-up;
• capacity-building sessions of legal professionals on VAW/DV, through the CoE HELP Programme (Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals);
• development and piloting of a twinning methodology for public officials in the field of VAW/DV;
• specialised training for public officials through the twinning methodology on the topic of VAW/DV ;
• peer-exchanges for state authorities’ representatives to promote the transfer of knowledge and experience on policies to combat VAW/DV and multi-agency co-operation;
• a series of webinars on specific articles of the Istanbul Convention;
• capacity-building sessions for state authorities and CSO representatives to develop a nation-wide campaign on VAW/DV ;
• delivery of a national campaign under the umbrella of the 16 Days of Activism to stop VAW/DV, in line with the Istanbul Convention and other CoE standards;
• production of visibility materials to raise awareness on VAW/DV and gender equality standards in Azerbaijan.

 Enhanced understanding on the Istanbul Convention and other gender equality standards in Azerbaijan;

 Increased capacity of national authorities to develop national legislation and policies in line with CoE standards on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, including the Istanbul Convention;

 Application of knowledge and skills on the Istanbul Convention and CoE standards on gender equality by legal professionals and civil servants when dealing with cases of violence against women and domestic violence.

 General leaflet on the Istanbul Conention – AZE;

 Leaflet on the monitoring mechanism of the Istanbul Conention – AZE;

 Info graphics on the four pillars of the Istanbul Conention – AZE;

 Brochure on the four pillars of the Istanbul Conention – AZE.

 State Committee on Family, Women and Children Affairs

 Ministry of Justice

 Ombudsperson Office

 Academy of Justice 

 Faculty of Law, Baku State University

  1 July 2020 – 31 December 2021

 The European Union and the Council of Europe

The project is implemented by:

the Capacity Building and Co-operation Projects Unit at the Council of Europe’s Gender Equality Division:

 Marta BECERRA, Head of Unit

 Sandra VELOY-MATEU, Project Manager

together with the Council of Europe Office in Baku:

 Parvana BAYRAMOVA, Senior Project Officer

 Nargiz RASULOVA, Project Assistant