The Council of Europe will organise a conference on “Gender equality and media” in the framework of the 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. The conference will take place at the Hilton Hotel (Sevda ballroom) from 09:30 to 18:00 on 13 May 2019.

The conference is dedicated to the 70th Anniversary of the Council of Europe and the 100th Anniversary of granting voting rights to Azerbaijani Women. The main aim of the conference is 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 to provide opportunity to 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 will participate in the conference.

Ms Hijran Huseynova, Head of the State Committee for Family, 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 will address the opening session of the conference.

The three sessions of the conference will respectively focus on “Council of Europe standards on gender equality and media freedom, “Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR): women’s rights and the media” and “Gender equality in Azerbaijani media: perspectives and challenges”.