UN DPI Azerbaijan
UN and Journalists in Azerbaijan Joint Undertaking to Advance Gender Equality
Leading up to the International Women’s Day celebration and as a continuation of the awareness raising sessions among journalists on the issues related to women’s rights and women’s empowerment, UNO Baku – Department of Public Information office in Azerbaijan (UN DPI) teamed up with its sister agencies to kick start an early observation of 8 March. The date commemorated at the United Nations and in so many countries around the globe is designated as a national holiday in Azerbaijan.
This was just one more reason for 30 Azerbaijani journalists to gather on a bright 5 March morning, some of them entering the UN House for the first time. They were genuinely pleased to be greeted by the UN Resident Coordinator and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) representative along with the representative of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the UN DPI team that organized the gathering under the motto -- 'Help vulnerable women in achieving their dreams and you will achieve yours'.
“I have started my work in Azerbaijan several months ago and just wanted to reassure you that our door is wide open for the cooperation,” said UN Resident Coordinator in Azerbaijan, Mr. Antonius Broek. “We hope to partner with the press as often as possible and jointly put into spotlight areas in which the country is very advanced, and also to highlight issues where we should seek improvement together.” This particular session with journalists was devoted to the internally displaced women (IDPs) who make up 50 per cent of the 600,000 Azerbaijanis internally displaced due to the conflict over Nagorno-Karabkh nearly two decades ago and also to media reporting on domestic violence.
With their identity and individuality reduced to being generally perceived as a non-subject, many IDP- women have had to forge new roles for themselves and find a modus of survival. Uncovering the truth about domestic violence or gender based violence within these newly formed, closely knit IDP communities is not an easy task since discussing such issues outside of family remains a strong taboo, and not only among IDPs.
Speaking in line with the 2013 Women’s Day theme - 'A promise is a promise: Time for action to end violence against women,' Mr. Dag Sigurdson, the head of UNHCR office, reiterated the readiness of his organization, which has been operating in Azerbaijan for 20 years already, to further assist and make every day women’s day. “For us who work closely with and for those vulnerable groups, it is truly important to work towards women’s empowerment, their advancement and welfare, which will lead to a better future for the whole country,” said Sigurdson.
The evidence-based data suggests that the efforts to combat diverse forms of violence against women are doomed to be ineffective unless all concerned actors, including the media, take an active part in the process,” says Ms. Bahija Aliyeva, UNFPA Programme Analyst.
She further highlighted the role of the media in achieving a violence free world for women and girls. “Media representatives should understand their shared responsibility in this process and should put more emphasis on treating these cases as serious violations of the human rights of women and girls instead of contributing to further victimization of women through a sensational reporting style without any attempts to explore the root causes of the related issues,” she stated.
While wrapping up discussion on the challenges and opportunities of women for women, Ms. Envera Selimovic, UN DPI Representative in Azerbaijan said, “Each of us has a role to play in fighting discrimination, abuse and prejudice and in helping women’s voices to be heard loud and clear.” She added that the media could play one of those most important roles in encouraging women to raise their voices and stand up for their rights. “You should be the one that opens the window of change, puts the spotlight on violence, examine the roots and call for more attention and action from all layers of society.”
Followed by a live Q&A session, which stressed the importance of having more female voices in the decision making, journalist Ulviyye Tahirqizi from the Popular Front Newspaper highlighted the need for more females in power structures that will serve as good role models.
Expressing her gratitude to the UN agencies, and UNDPI in particular, Yelena Sidorenko from Khazar TV said that her “only regret was that women are still not supporting each other; however, we should do our best, pay attention and work towards this worthy goal on this long way to real progress.” For Almaz Mahmud from Region Plus magazine the main question was – will the media accept and adopt a code of conduct and ethics that specifically addresses gender-fair reporting? She said that it is not enough to rely on broad guidelines that deal with morality, good taste, and decency. We need professional guidelines regarding coverage of women and women's issues, which will not only help upgrade women's status, but also help raise the quality of journalism in general. "The session was specific and focused - I think this is one of those very useful workshops that open another venue for a follow up,” says Anakhanym Hidayatova from APA News Agency.
The event was concluded with a briefing about the UN Secretary-General’s UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign, launched in 2008, which is based on the simple but powerful premise that all women and girls have a fundamental human right to live free of violence.
” To those women we say: the United Nations stands with you. As Secretary-General, I insist that the welfare of all victims of sexual violence in conflict must be at the forefront of our activities. And I instruct my senior advisors to make our response to sexual violence a priority in all of our peace-making, peacekeeping and peace building activities.”
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UN and Journalists in Azerbaijan Joint Undertaking to Advance Gender Equality
Leading up to the International Women’s Day celebration and as a continuation of the awareness raising sessions among journalists on the issues related to women’s rights and women’s empowerment, UNO Baku – Department of Public Information office in Azerbaijan (UN DPI) teamed up with its sister agencies to kick start an early observation of 8 March. The date commemorated at the United Nations and in so many countries around the globe is designated as a national holiday in Azerbaijan.
This was just one more reason for 30 Azerbaijani journalists to gather on a bright 5 March morning, some of them entering the UN House for the first time. They were genuinely pleased to be greeted by the UN Resident Coordinator and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) representative along with the representative of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the UN DPI team that organized the gathering under the motto -- 'Help vulnerable women in achieving their dreams and you will achieve yours'.
“I have started my work in Azerbaijan several months ago and just wanted to reassure you that our door is wide open for the cooperation,” said UN Resident Coordinator in Azerbaijan, Mr. Antonius Broek. “We hope to partner with the press as often as possible and jointly put into spotlight areas in which the country is very advanced, and also to highlight issues where we should seek improvement together.” This particular session with journalists was devoted to the internally displaced women (IDPs) who make up 50 per cent of the 600,000 Azerbaijanis internally displaced due to the conflict over Nagorno-Karabkh nearly two decades ago and also to media reporting on domestic violence.
With their identity and individuality reduced to being generally perceived as a non-subject, many IDP- women have had to forge new roles for themselves and find a modus of survival. Uncovering the truth about domestic violence or gender based violence within these newly formed, closely knit IDP communities is not an easy task since discussing such issues outside of family remains a strong taboo, and not only among IDPs.
Speaking in line with the 2013 Women’s Day theme - 'A promise is a promise: Time for action to end violence against women,' Mr. Dag Sigurdson, the head of UNHCR office, reiterated the readiness of his organization, which has been operating in Azerbaijan for 20 years already, to further assist and make every day women’s day. “For us who work closely with and for those vulnerable groups, it is truly important to work towards women’s empowerment, their advancement and welfare, which will lead to a better future for the whole country,” said Sigurdson.
The evidence-based data suggests that the efforts to combat diverse forms of violence against women are doomed to be ineffective unless all concerned actors, including the media, take an active part in the process,” says Ms. Bahija Aliyeva, UNFPA Programme Analyst.
She further highlighted the role of the media in achieving a violence free world for women and girls. “Media representatives should understand their shared responsibility in this process and should put more emphasis on treating these cases as serious violations of the human rights of women and girls instead of contributing to further victimization of women through a sensational reporting style without any attempts to explore the root causes of the related issues,” she stated.
While wrapping up discussion on the challenges and opportunities of women for women, Ms. Envera Selimovic, UN DPI Representative in Azerbaijan said, “Each of us has a role to play in fighting discrimination, abuse and prejudice and in helping women’s voices to be heard loud and clear.” She added that the media could play one of those most important roles in encouraging women to raise their voices and stand up for their rights. “You should be the one that opens the window of change, puts the spotlight on violence, examine the roots and call for more attention and action from all layers of society.”
Followed by a live Q&A session, which stressed the importance of having more female voices in the decision making, journalist Ulviyye Tahirqizi from the Popular Front Newspaper highlighted the need for more females in power structures that will serve as good role models.
Expressing her gratitude to the UN agencies, and UNDPI in particular, Yelena Sidorenko from Khazar TV said that her “only regret was that women are still not supporting each other; however, we should do our best, pay attention and work towards this worthy goal on this long way to real progress.” For Almaz Mahmud from Region Plus magazine the main question was – will the media accept and adopt a code of conduct and ethics that specifically addresses gender-fair reporting? She said that it is not enough to rely on broad guidelines that deal with morality, good taste, and decency. We need professional guidelines regarding coverage of women and women's issues, which will not only help upgrade women's status, but also help raise the quality of journalism in general. "The session was specific and focused - I think this is one of those very useful workshops that open another venue for a follow up,” says Anakhanym Hidayatova from APA News Agency.
The event was concluded with a briefing about the UN Secretary-General’s UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign, launched in 2008, which is based on the simple but powerful premise that all women and girls have a fundamental human right to live free of violence.
” To those women we say: the United Nations stands with you. As Secretary-General, I insist that the welfare of all victims of sexual violence in conflict must be at the forefront of our activities. And I instruct my senior advisors to make our response to sexual violence a priority in all of our peace-making, peacekeeping and peace building activities.”
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