Azerbaijan, Baku, Aug. 31 / Trend V.Mammadov /
Azerbaijan's Tovuz region hosted a conference today on "Strengthening Domestic Culture as the Main Factor in Combating Violence in the 21st Century." The conference was held upon the initiative of MP Ganira Pashayeva.
At the opening ceremony, Chairman of the State Committee for Family, Women and Children Affairs Hijran Huseynova spoke about the importance of the conference. She noted that the conference aims to educate women about domestic violence and to familiarize them with legislation on the issue.
"The law on domestic violence has arouse great interest in society," she said. "Many meetings and activities have been held on this issue. But we decided to hold similar meetings in all of the country's regions in a conference format to discuss domestic violence and to help people better understand the goals of the law."
Head of the Tovuz Region Deputy Executive Power Fikret Tagiyev also spoke about the role of women in regional social life.
According to the official, 79,400 of 159,764 regional residents are women. Of the 4,069 individuals employed in education, 3,016 are women. Of the 2,122 individuals working in health, 1,809 are women, he said.
Women are more and more often playing leading roles in society and culture in the region, Tagiyev said. If there were only two female head managers at 13 cultural centers in the region in 2007, the figure is now five. Women are also taking an active part in regional electoral bodies. Of the 375 members, 115 are women and 12 municipal authorities are run by women, he said.
Meanwhile, Pashayeva spoke about the importance of combating domestic violence. According to the MP, incidents of domestic violence go undisclosed in many countries.
"But in this case violence increases further," she said. "We have to deal with violence whenever we face it to ensure that such incidents do not increase."
Huseynova stressed that women in Azerbaijan must be aware of their rights and further seminars will be held across the country to educate woman about domestic violence.
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