Women gather at the Town hall meeting in Tovuz

In observance of the Interna-tional Women’s Day, the UN Information Office in Azerbai-jan (UNO Baku), initiated and facilitated week-long series of informative and diverse outreach activities from the 1 to 8 March so as to actively promote gender equality and non-discrimination agenda in Azerbaijan.

Teaming up with State Committee for Family, Women and Children’s Affairs (SCFWCA) and prominent Azerbaijani parliamentarian Ms. Ganira Pashayeva, Ms. Envera Selimovic, UN DPI Representative, organized a number of town hall meetings in Tovuz, which is a district allocated in the west of Azerbaijan and being bounded with Georgia and Armenia, in Dondar and Alibayli mountainous villages of Tovuz, and in Ganja, which is also allocated in the west.

In Ganja, Ms. Envera Selimovic along with MP Ms. Ganira Pashayeva and Ms. Sadagat Gahramanova, participated in a live debate on one of the local television channels. Taking this opportunity, Ms. Selimovic informed that 2010 marks the 15th anniversary of the adoption of the landmark Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which called for action on 12 key issues, including poverty, education, violence against women and integration of women in decision-making.

In addition, Ms. Selimovic conducted interactive sessions on the topic of early marriages and gender-based violence with local population in every district and village visited.

The final destination of DPI Representatives town hall meetings was a military base located in a remote village, where Ms. Selimovic met Azerbaijani soldiers and officers, and actively promulgated the importance of preventing violence against women, especially during armed conflicts. 

The UNO Baku team, in close cooperation with UNHCR and ILO as well as local partners, organized educational outreach events with IDP communities from Aghdam and Jabrayil regions residing in Baku.

The message from the events rang loudly and clearly: No women should left behind; every woman should know her rights and ways of protecting them, because women’s rights are inseparable and integral part of human rights.

As a continuation of awareness-raising engagements among the Azerbaijani youth, the UN DPI Office in Azerbaijan (UNO Baku) conducted a series of educational outreach events for students of several Baku based universities from 11 to 28 February 2010.

DPI Public Information Assistant Igrar Aliyev and students at the "2009: Year in Review" screening

The focus of attention and subsequent discussion was on "2009: Year in Review", a thirteen-minute documentary of the UN's work around the globe in 2009 and challenges faced in the year. 

UNO Baku screened the UN documentary film at the Qafqaz, Khazar and Azerbaijani Language universities situated in different spots of the capital Baku. Each session brought together approximately 40 students specializing in economics, public administration, international law and political science.

The documentary film was positively accepted by the students and afterwards led to interactive discussions between the students and UN DPI Azerbaijan team. 

International Mother Language Day, proclaimed by the General Conference of UNESCO in November 1999, has been observed annually since 2000 to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism.

To mark the Day in Baku, the UN Department of Public Information office in Azerbaijan (UNO Baku), National Commission of the Republic of Azerbaijan for UNESCO, Baku Oxford School, Baku European Lyceum and Azerbaijan Teacher’s Association were invited to join a celebration with educators and students at the International School of Azerbaijan.

Students at the International School of Azerbaijan

The International Mother Language Day related activities included: exploration of on-line advertisements to identify cultural slants typical to a language group, making board games in the mother languages spoken by the students, poem recitals and performing short plays in languages other than English, karaoke songs sung in mother languages and food demonstrations conducted in five languages.

Interaction with the IB1 class (16 and 17 year-olds) started with an address from the UN DPI Public Information Assistant Mr. Igrar Aliyev. In his remarks, having touched upon the brief history of the International Mother Languages Day, he underlined the importance of teaching tolerance and promoting respect towards linguistic and cultural diversity among the youngsters through education.

He invited the audience to listen to the message of UNESCO Director-General Ms. Irina Bokova read by Mr. Ramin Aliyev, Attaché of the National Commission of the Republic of Azerbaijan for UNESCO.

Film screening

To explore what music can do to open up a constructive approach to conflicts settle-ments, how it can spread the word without speaking, and how music can heal and help bring understanding and tolerance of different beliefs and cultures, the UN Department of Public Information (UNO Baku) team organized screening of the film titled “Knowledge is the Beginning” for students and teachers of Baku Music Academy (BMA) on 18 February 2010.

The film depicts the real-life story of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, where young Arabs and Jews perform and live side by side. As director of the film Paul Smaczny put it, the film is a story of the way we can transcend cultural barriers, bring people together, defeat prejudice and overcome religious and political differences.

The film screening started with a talk on tolerance, the power of music and the role it plays in our lives; how intolerance can affect humanity, and how music can help people from different points of view find common ground.

As Igrar Aliyev the Public Information Assistant said, “Tolerance makes it possible for people from different backgrounds to coexist peacefully, when provided the opportunity to share what they have in common”.

Later he gave information on the founder of the ensemble Daniel Barenboim, upon whom the orchestra is a symbol for what can be achieved in the Middle East. “It is very inspiring to witness how music can be a useful way to break down barriers usually considered insurmountable. In this model, an orchestra serves as a good example of democracy and civilized living. I would like to use this chance to express my deep gratitude to UN DPI for giving options to students to think once again about this secret and powerful weapon called music that they possess,” stated Yegana Akhundova, the teacher at the BMA.

Students were very much eager to learn more about the lives and activities of two musicians, Daniel Barenboim and Edward Seid, who absolutely transformed music’s role in building and illuminating harmonious co-existence in one region. “We have learnt about two men, who will always remain in the world history, about their efforts to make the world a better place to live for every human.

This film was an eye-opening and inspiration to us, as future musician, to continue breaking stereotypes with the help of this international language called music,” said Anar Seyidov forth year student at Baku Music Academy.