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Azerbaijan Ngo Alliance for Children's Rights AZERBAIJAN NGO ALLIANCE FOR CHILDREN’S RIGHTS Alternative NGO Report To the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child In relation to the examination of the second and third joint periodic report by the Republic of Azerbaijan on the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and Concluding Observations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child of 1997 June 2005 1 BACKGROUND AND ACKNOWLEDGMENT The current report assesses the situation of children and the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in the Republic of Azerbaijan covering the period 1998-2005. It also identifies the changes that occurred since 1997, when the Concluding Observations of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child were adopted, following examination of the Initial Report from the Republic of Azerbaijan on the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The report was prepared by the Azerbaijan NGO Alliance for Children’s Rights, which is an umbrella agency of 60 NGOs and children and youth groups working throughout the country for the improvement of children’s welfare, and promoting and protecting children’s rights. The information in the present report is primarily based on the practical experience of the Alliance members and on the data collected through research, monitoring, study visits, interviews, surveys with children, parents, community members, prison staff, police officers, lawyers, teachers and representatives of the Commissions on Minors’ Affairs and Protection of the Rights. Information was used from reports and interviews with NGOs from different regions of Azerbaijan, interviews with children (including children in state residential institutions). Information from teachers, defence lawyers, international organizations and governmental officials was also used (see references еlsewhere). We would like to thank all members of the Azerbaijan NGO Alliance for Children’s Rights, legal professionals, state agencies, prison staff, police officers, teachers, children and young people, representatives of the Commission on Minors’ Affairs and the Protection of the Rights of the Child and many others who cooperated in collecting information and discussing the report. We would also like to thank the government agencies, namely the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Tourism and the Baku Head Police Department for their openness and all other governmental agencies, which also agreed to meet with us regarding the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in the Republic of Azerbaijan. We would like to express our gratitude to the Canadian International Development Agency (Canadian Embassy in Turkey), UNICEF, World Vision and Save the Children, for helping the Azerbaijan NGO Alliance for Children’s Rights to prepare this important report which was the first of its kind on the situation of children in Azerbaijan. We would like to express our special thanks to the OSCE office in Baku and the British Embassy in Azerbaijan who kindly funded a research study on the situation of the juvenile justice system in Azerbaijan. We also extend our thanks to everybody else who provided comments and committed their time to helping with the editing of the report. Our special thanks to Save the Children Azerbaijan and especially to Ms.Ishhad Duncan and Mr.Dadash Akhmedov for the editing of this report. © Reliable Future Youth Organization, Azerbaijan NGO Alliance for Children’s Rights, 2005 Printed in Azerbaijan Republic All rights reserved. Any part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without any written permission from copyright holder and publisher. However, the reference to the source must be given at all times. 2 To: UN Committee on the Rights of the Child Palais des Nations CH-1211 Genève, 10 Switzerland; Tel.: (41-22) 917-9301, (41-22) 917-1234, Fax: (41-22) 917-0118. The NGO Alternative Report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on the situation of children and to the second and third joint Periodic State Party Report on implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child between 1998 and 2005 and the Concluding Observations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child of 1997 by the Republic of Azerbaijan 15 June 2005 Dear Sirs, Azerbaijan NGO Alliance for Children’s Rights is pleased to submit the NGO Alternative Report on the situation of children in the Republic of Azerbaijan. This report was prepared based on Article 45(a) of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The report also includes our review of the second and third joint Periodic State Party Report on the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child covering the period 1998-2005, and the Concluding Observations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child of 1997. We would like to note that along with the commentary on certain points in the State party report, the NGO Alternative report provides up-to-date information including recent developments and legislative initiatives for the period of 2004-2005 which are not covered by the State Party Report, since it was submitted in early 2004. It is important to note that compared to the first alternative report, provided for the Initial State Party Report in 1997, this current report has been developed through the extensive and cooperative work of over 60 NGOs throughout Azerbaijan, over the period of 9 months. This shows a growing attention and interest of the Azeri society and NGOs to the problems of children and also to the increased application of UN conventions for advocacy and lobbying for children’s rights and solutions to their problems. We would like to confirm that the Alternative Report can be freely disseminated and shared with the public in electronic and printed formats. The experts of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child may make reference to it, whilst discussing and debating with representatives of the Azerbaijan government delegation. This Alternative Report has been published in Azerbaijan in Azeri/English and distributed widely amongst interested organizations and general public. Representatives of the Azerbaijan NGO Alliance for Children’s Rights will be available to take part at the pre-session meeting with experts of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in October 2005. The Azerbaijan NGO Alliance for Children’s Rights will initiate public debates and discussions on the State Party Report and widely distribute the Concluding Observations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, which is expected to be available in January-February 2006. The NGO Alternative Report includes special sections with Practical Recommendations to the State Party for improvement of the situation, particular areas of concern, and also the List of Issues that we 3 hope will be helpful for experts of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in their discussions with the government delegation. Due to the large amount of information sourced by NGOs from the 9 month research study, it was difficult to follow the requirements regarding the size of the Alternative Report as mentioned in the special Guide for NGOs prepared by the NGO Group for the CRC. Attempts were made to reduce the content of several sections of the NGO Alternative Report in order to stress the most important issues, which have been jointly selected as emerging problems by all members of the Azerbaijan NGO Alliance for Children’s Rights. In reference to the NGO Alternative report, we would like to bring the following emerging issues to your attention, which we believe need urgent intervention by the State Party: a) children with disabilities; b) children in conflict with the law; c) refugee and IDP children; d) children in the health system and e) children in state residential institutions. Another important point we would like to emphasise on, is the importance of the establishment of The Ombudsman for Children’s Rights in Azerbaijan, in order to protect the rights of more than 2.5 million children and also, the establishment of a State Committee for Children & Family issues, which would be able to coordinate and implement state policies on children in a more effective manner. The Children’s Aternative Report is also included for your consideration and reference. It was put together through the organization of a number of Children’s Forums, held in 15 regions of Azerbaijan. This report has also been published and widely distributed in Azerbaijan. We sincerely hope that this report will play its part in the improvement of the situation with children and assist in further implementation of UN Convention on The Rights of The Child in Azerbaijan. Yours sincerely on behalf of Azerbaijan NGO Alliance for Children’s Rights, Dr. Nabil Seyidov National Coordinator of the Azerbaijan NGO Alliance for Children’s Rights General Secretary of NGO/UNICEF Regional Network for Children in CEE/CIS & Baltic States 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...........................................................................................................................................................................6 I. GENERAL IMPLEMENTATION MEASURES (Articles 4, 42 and Point 6 of the Article 44)................................................................7 General Evaluation....................................................................................................................................................................................7
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