Azerbaijan

The implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is failing in Azerbaijan due, among other things, to a high child mortality rate. In addition, the observance of children's privacy and the granting of the right to expression and religion are not being implemented far enough.

The Committee recommends to intensify efforts to provide adolescents with education on sex and reproductive health and improve the accessibility of contraception.

The Committee urges the State party to undertake awareness-raising campaigns on eliminating discrimination against children with disabilities, and consider enacting legislation explicitly prohibiting such discrimination as well as to establish a clear legislative definition of disability, including for learning, cognitive and mental disabilities, with the aim of accurately identifying children with disabilities to effectively address their needs in a non-discriminatory manner. Azerbaijan should also prohibit the relinquishment of new-born infants and/or children to State care on the sole basis that they have a disability, to complement this prohibition with the strengthening of support measures for parents to care for their children with disabilities, and, where such placement in care is considered, to ensure that it is done with full regard to the principle of the best interests of the child.

The Committee urges the State party to allocate all necessary human, technical and financial resources to expeditiously improve the availability and quality of primary health care. In doing so, the State party is further urged to ensure that such health-care services are equitably accessible, particularly to children living in rural areas and socio-economically challenged situations. The Committee also recommends that the State party undertake a comprehensive study on the specific causes of child mortality, taking its findings into consideration when implementing measures to reduce and prevent such mortality.

The Committee recommends that the State party take legislative and institutional measures to ensure that the business sector in the country respect child rights, including by providing a legislative framework that requires companies domiciled in Azerbaijan to pay particular attention to respecting child rights, particularly those companies involved in the extractive and cotton-producing industries. Azerbaijan should, inter alia, also adopt measures to help business enterprises prevent and mitigate adverse human rights impacts in their operations in the country and abroad, whether by their supply chains or associates.

The Committee recommends that the State party consider enacting a law on juvenile justice through an open consultative process which includes civil society and fully addresses the resource and technical needs for its operation; and, until a juvenile justice system is established, ensure the training of all its legal, penitentiary and law enforcement professionals on the Convention. The Committee further recommends to consider establishing a specialized police service for children, particularly with regard to training on child-sensitive investigations and interrogations. Azerbaijan should also ensure that all persons under the age of 18 in custody, particularly females, are separated from adults and it should also take urgent steps to substantially improve the conditions of detention of persons under the age of 18, and bring them into full conformity with international standards.

The Committee urges the State party to expeditiously further strengthen its mechanisms to transparently monitor corruption at all levels and sectors, and improve the awareness of and accessibility to safe channels for reporting it. The Committee recommends that in the context of corruption in the areas of birth registration, health care and education, the State party consider measures for ensuring that information on its anti-corruption hotline is clearly visible at places where persons may seek such services. The Committee also recommends that the State party consider further strengthening its enforcement laws and mechanisms with a view to ensuring the prompt punishment of perpetrators of corruption with commensurate sanctions.