What are the most common problems that women raise with your society?
The problems they bring to us include sexual harassment at work and unfair dismissal. A lot of victims of domestic violence appeal to us, and there are cases where wives are barred from their home and lose access to their children. These are the problems that our organization deals with.
The main work of the Dilara Aliyeva Society for Women's Rights has for 20 years been the free protection of women's rights in the courts. These matters are dealt with by our human rights defenders, whom we call public defenders. We receive complaints; in turn we write letters to various authorities, but if this does not help solve the problem, we protect the women who have approached us in court. Today, we win seven out of ten court cases related to domestic violence, the division of property, the taking of children from their mothers and dismissal from work. This is the basic line of our work.
Our second project is connected with preparation of the Armenian and Azerbaijani communities of Nagorno-Karabakh to live side by side in future. We are working on this with Azerbaijanis, with our colleagues from the Women's Centre in Armenia and with Armenian young people and women.
Could you give more details about this aspect of your work?
Details? In the first stage of our work we are trying to reconcile the Karabakhi Azerbaijanis and Armenians, to help them develop tolerance of one another and create mutual trust. We were implementing this program until last year, while this year we are holding seminars for Armenian and Azerbaijani young people. The problem is that these youngsters grew up after the war and they have already developed the image of each other as an enemy. The young people of both countries see their peers next door as their enemies and are not willing to communicate. Though today our lands are occupied by them, we are neighbours and we have to live together. For this reason, Armenian and Azerbaijani young people need to get used to each other, to get rid of the image of an enemy and to restore mutual trust.
For example, at one of our seminars there was a very interesting case: after a young 19-year-old Azerbaijani girl heard our stories about how we used to live alongside Armenians in an atmosphere of friendship and mutual support, she said she had grown up convinced that 'Armenians are our enemies'. This girl asked us to teach her to be tolerant of Armenians. We are not quarrelling with the Russians though Moscow, the Kremlin, held us under their control for 70 years. Today thousands of Azerbaijanis live in Germany, though during the Great Patriotic War our fathers were killed by fascists at the front. Residents of entire villages went to the front and did not return. However, this does not mean that we should not communicate or cooperate with Germans. Time is the best healer. If we are willing to live in peace with Armenians, we should bear in mind that Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh are citizens of Azerbaijan because this is our territory.
Before that we had a program in which Karabakh Armenians and Azerbaijanis met in Cyprus. And here there was a meeting involving a Karabakh Azerbaijani who had lost her husband and cousins and an Armenian who had lost his father and two brothers. The Armenian said that his friends urged him not to go, saying that he was going to meet the enemy. 'But I have come here and met a woman who also lost her relatives. I realized that we are not to blame for this war. The people who launched it are to blame for it. We are able to talk, communicate and sit together,' he said. This is what we should teach the communities of the two countries to do, since we are striving for integration with Europe, to become members of the EU where there are almost no borders between states.
What other regional projects do you have? Do you have joint projects with women human rights organizations in the region?
We have already laid the basis of the Women's Parliament of the South Caucasus which aims to achieve the right for women to take decisions independently. In all three South Caucasus countries women are in the majority only in schools and medical facilities, but are many women head doctors or school directors? The answer is no. Almost all of them are men. It is the same in Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia. There are no women ministers, entrepreneurs, though there is a law on gender equality.
This means that women are not allowed into top jobs. It is also an important fact that women are not involved in the resolution of existing conflicts. Our opinion is not asked when wars are launched, though women and children suffer more during war. The Karabakh, Georgian-Ossetian and Georgian-Abkhaz wars are shining examples. Therefore, we must provide women with the real opportunity to take decisions. I do not think that the male deputies sitting in the Azerbaijani, Georgian or Armenian parliaments are smarter than women who could also be active in parliament. It is a very important issue, because women are less subject to corruption, a woman is a mother who protects her family. Therefore, she will also protect the country where she holds a top job.
Could you please tell us more about the women's parliament?
We, representatives of women's non-governmental organizations in the three countries, have sent the outline for the Women's Parliament of the South Caucasus to the EU and the first ladies of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia with an invitation to take part in the creation of a school of leadership for women and young people of the South Caucasus. We want this parliament to involve representatives of the leading NGOs of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. The parliament will also involve women of Armenian and Azerbaijani origin from Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as representatives of Ossetia and Abkhazia. This parliament will represent the interests of all the citizens of the South Caucasus.
When can we expect this regional parliament to start work?
This is a very big project. When we first spoke of this idea, we had many supporters in the European Union. The Women and Youth Leadership School to educate representatives of the entire South Caucasus will function under the parliament. The school will teach diplomacy, economics, small and large business management, law and advocacy. We think that the school will provide distance learning on a three-year program. Graduates will get certificates. International experts and professors will teach there. Young people and women up to the age of 45 will be able to study at the school. In this way we will provide trained women specialists to our states. We will help women and young people learn to take decisions at the level of senior state figures.
And how will the parliament work?
Sessions will be held. It will be very important to take our own decisions in the extreme circumstances that may arise in any of our three countries. We want to involve women deputies from the Azerbaijani, Armenian and Georgian parliaments in working with us, as they can have a real influence on decision-making in the three states' legislatures.
We really want to interest our state structures in this global project and not only the European Union. We want the state structures of the three countries to be active in the process. This is very important for us.
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